


Light a Match, Take it Slow

by orphan_account



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Prison, Blood, Hallucinations, M/M, Psychological Torture, Self-Hatred, Superpowers, also heathens based, this is like an au within an au tbh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-27
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-07-18 16:46:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7323010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In an alternate timeline, Blurryface had done a hell of a lot more damage than he could have ever imagined. "You're a monster," all the humans say when Tyler Joseph is brought to prison. "You're a monster," they say as they poke and prod and make him tick.</p>
<p>"I'm a monster," he says as he comes face to face with his sins.</p>
<p>(Deep within Light a Match you'll find an alternate universe within an alternate universe.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly I've been wanting to revisit the Light a Match universe for a while and here we are. This basically happened right after the massacre in the original story, but instead of heading back and being locked in the basement, Tyler gets brought to prison where the government becomes... suspicious. And thus the story begins.
> 
> It'll eventually fall back into place with the original timeline, but some things to note: at this point in this universe, Tyler and Josh had already known one another, Tyler hadn't been bothered terribly by Blurryface, and Brent hadn't come to live with them.

The best time to watch a city was right in the dead of night.

It bustled even late into the early hours of the morning, people laughing as golden lights danced across their faces. Cars still drove lazily, the red of their tail lights casting shadows, and the buildings towered over everyone like ethereal beings. Even standing on the third floor of an apartment building with the wind whistling through broken glass was the city beautiful. Even with all the blood on his hands, and the three bodies laid out in front of him, was the city beautiful. Even with the blaring sound of sirens in the distance and the yells of angry men was the city beautiful.

For three days he had been out in the city looking for energy. He found his light listening to people scream, watching as charcoal clouded their veins and their breathing became nonexist, as he stained his hair, his hands, his clothes, with that thick, ruby molasses under their skin. He felt invincible, even when the police busted through that apartment door.

He held up his hands in defense, laughing loudly as they surrounded him. They thought he was your average serial killer; oh _boy_ how wrong were they.

“You have the right to remain silent,” they told him, and he laughed again. He knew the minute they laid a hand on him they would all be dead. And in fact, that’s what happened. Pairs of hands reached for wrists to secure and dropped dead like flies. People continued to shout and he thought it rude. They were interrupting his peace.

They probably didn’t understand. After all, they had discovered him snarling with his hands in a man’s chest, his red eyes glowing in the dark living room. The fan above his head rotated lazily as he laid on the ground, waiting patiently for someone to do something.

The police called for backup. “We need all the help we can get,” they said as he continued to laugh like a madman. And that was what he was after all.

The next thing he knew, there were men everywhere, and something was jammed in his neck. He slowly faded from reality as the city continued to rustle around him.

\---

Tyler Joseph had gone so long without slipping up. He thought he could control the evil that shared a body and mind with him, but he had been so very wrong.

It was hard sharing a mind with someone who only wanted to kill. Every single day he was told to murder, and several times did he actually think about doing it. If he didn’t kill, he could save, but more things died than lived. It would be disruptive to the work that’s been done, he was told by the voice that constantly whispered in his ear.

The being who did not have a body of flesh and bone unlike his own went by the name of Blurryface, and he was everything Tyler was not. But unlike Blurryface, Tyler had people that loved him, people that took care of him and made him feel worthwhile.

He even had someone he loved himself. His name was Josh Dun, and Josh was everything good in the world. He had a heart full of gold, a smile that could light up the darkest corners of the room, and eyes the colour of that perfect soy latte. If anyone could come close to perfection, it would be Josh Dun.

But really that was besides the point. Because at the moment, Tyler was waking up with a roaring headache, his brain swimming in the liquid puddle his thoughts had become. He became frantic when he realized he couldn’t move his arms, and the panicking started when he became aware of his surroundings. Everything was white and clean and pristine and it was a place he should not have been in. His upper half was contained in a dusty straight jacket, his bottom half wrapped in an excessive amount of chains and his mouth was covered by thick leather, making it unable for him to talk. Tyler couldn’t speak, couldn’t move, couldn’t begin to think of what was going to happen to him. He couldn’t remember what had happened. _You messed up,_ said the voice as Tyler swallowed thickly.

The click clack of heels alerted the arrival of a tall blonde in a white lab coat and black frames. She carried a clipboard and was accompanied by two security guards sporting full body armor with helmets and everything.

“Welcome back to the real world,” she said calmly, her voice full of poison. “We’ve missed you these few days.”

Unable to reply, Tyler only stared at her.

“You had us played really well. No one could figure out how you were killing so many people so quickly, but it’s all so clear now Mr. Joseph.” His eyes widened as his body shook. “Finding a name for you was proven to be very difficult. You dropped off the face of the planet, didn’t you Tyler?” her stoic expression melted into a smirk, arrogance fitting her body like an aroma. “You aren’t human. I understand the fear and the worry. You probably always thought to yourself, when is the government going to come for me? You probably could have gone unknown if it hadn’t been for well, all of this.” With a gesture towards Tyler, the guards stepped forward to remove his muzzle. He looked at her with wary eyes and a heavy heart. “Now tell me Mr. Joseph, what makes you really angry?”

“Whatever I did, I promise I don’t remember. It wasn’t me, it was the being I share a body with-” his voice was terribly broken and hoarse and he was happy when she interrupted him.

“You share a body with someone? What’s their name?”

“Blurryface,” he breathed, his eyelids fluttering. “What happened?”

“People died. Lots of people died. Men, women, children, officers.”

“What?” There was this pain in Tyler’s chest that had been building since he first woke up. It felt like a dam breaking as pain ran throughout his body like the waves of water. He had messed up. He lost control of something he never could control, and Tyler has never felt more guilt in his life. His parents were right.

He was dangerous.

“When we found you, your eyes were red. Is this who you call Blurryface?”

“I-I don’t call him that,” Tyler was scared now. Very scared. “He calls himself that. We are two different people. He just, he doesn’t have a body of his own, so he shares one with me and everything he touches dies and-” Tyler sobbed, unable to contain the grief in his heart. “Oh my god. All those people.”

The woman in the lab coat nodded her head and scribbled on her clipboard. “Everything he touches dies. What about you? What can you do Tyler?”

“Bring back the dead,” tears kept spilling and the voice laughed mockingly. _Suck it up_.

She scribbled some more. “We’ll have to do some tests. Mr. Joseph, is there anything you’d like to know since you were apparently unconscious during your killing spree?”

“Don’t mess with Blurryface,” Tyler begged, his voice rugged like it had been dragged twenty miles through the mud, “he’s impulsive and very dangerous.”

“Of course he is my dear. Why do you think you’re here?”

He gasped for the air that didn’t seem to come. “There’s this guy, he’s got faded red hair and crinkly eyes and the brightest smile in the world.” Tyler started pulling, twisting, when the security guards approached him once more. “Josh, his name is Josh! Josh Dun, he’s from Columbus, please-” The girl in the snow white labcoat stopped the guards with a wave of her hand, the smile replaced with cold fear. Tyler tried to catch his breath.

“I know that name,” she whispered, turning around to pull a tablet out of one of the white drawers. She looked pained as the tablet slowly turned Tyler’s way.

And he screamed. He screamed so loud the guards were hitting him, and he was sprayed in the face with rushing cold water. His bones broke and his heart imploded and the voice continued to laugh like it was the funniest thing in the world.

Because there Josh was, his eyes glassy and shot as he stared straight into the camera. Blood poured from his nose and his mouth and his arms were clouded with chunks of black, soul gaping black that no one ever returned from. His skin was purple from the rush of blood, and _oh_ , Tyler had done that to him.

Tyler Joseph had killed the most important thing in his life. He had killed the one good thing he wanted to save.

And so he continued to cry until his eyes were dry and his throat was hoarse and that lady with her lab coat and clipboard and thick glasses turned on her heel. “Enjoy prison Mr. Joseph,” she said, and the light white faded from his eyes.


	2. Blasphemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the end of the day it is light that consumes him
> 
> After all, life ruled by darkness is often grim

With four guards on his back, Tyler kept his head down as they led him through the hallways of the penitentiary. They hadn’t been very nice with him while he was kept in that lab, hadn’t been nice at all when they pressed things to his skin and took his blood and called him terrible things. _You’re a freak,_ they said, _possessed,_  they said, and Tyler supposed maybe he was. He deserved every insult, every scratch, every bruise. It may have been Blurryface who was in charge, but they were Tyler’s hands that killed, that choked, that stabbed, that ripped open. And when he closed his eyes, all he could see was that blood.

Blood, and the golden bright light Josh Dun gave off.

Tyler would never forgive himself for what he had done.

 _He had to go, you and I both know that. You were getting distracted. You were getting happy. You don’t deserve to be happy_. He was right. Tyler didn’t deserve to be happy.

They had stripped him down, made him tick, and wrapped him back up with prison orange and the constellations of purple-blue bruises. His hands were covered, contained with cuffs, protection in case he decided to “switch over.” But he doubted that happening. Blurryface seemed to enjoy the hell Tyler was pulling through. And even the term “pulling through” was very broad because he really wasn’t even doing that.

The people in this prison were big and very, _very_ dangerous. He guess he fit one of those descriptions, but none of the other prisoners seemed to think that. They laughed at him, called out to him, and all Tyler could do was ignore them. He thought about his home, his friends that hadn’t seen him in weeks. They probably knew about the murders by now. They probably knew Tyler was in prison and Josh was dead and it was all his fault.

“Here Joseph,” the guards pulled him away from his dark thoughts and tossed him into the cell like nothing. They had the generosity to remove his cuffs, but it was quick and not thoughtful and the door slammed shut. He latched onto those bars, staring at the people passing in the hallways with regret. He deserved to be here rotting away until the end of time. _We’ll get out eventually, I’ll make sure of it,_ but Tyler didn’t want to escape. If people were safe from him when he was behind bars, than he was more than happy to live out the rest of his days here.

He was sure they’d be back for some more experiments, more questions eventually, but for now, he paced his cell, he laid down, he tried to ignore the empty gaping hole pretending to be his heart. Tyler was sure if he could die they’d put him on the chair. They’d stretch him to the brink of death for sure, and once they realized that he wasn’t going anywhere, things would only get worse. Good. He deserved every second.

Tyler tried to close his eyes, but was blinded, choked, prodded, by that aurous light that never seemed to leave his mind. It seeped into his pores and covered every inch of his body with guilt. He could see it now, his hand around Josh’s throat, beaming as the light, that bright light he gave off, was sucked from his soul. Watching Josh’s eyes cloud with potassium, watching the blood fall like rain, laughing, grinning, screaming. He wondered what Josh had said, wondered when the last time he had told Josh he loved him was. Josh had been the best human being Tyler had ever met, and now he was gone. Tyler had warned him to stay away, to leave him alone, but Josh was too nice, he was too _fucking_ nice and that was the reason he was dead, because Tyler wasn’t nice. He was evil. He was Blurryface, and Blurryface was him. There was no escaping that realization now.

_What do you think Josh would be doing right now, huh? Sitting in his room, messing around with that obnoxious drum kit. Maybe he’d be in the dining hall helping make dinner. Maybe he would be-_

“Stop it,” Tyler begged, his eyes on the peeling plaster of the ceiling. “Please.”

Tyler would have swam across the world just to hear Josh play one last time. That was his happy place, the thing he could control in a world of chaos. A loopy smile would spread across his face, his forehead would glisten with sweat and he pounded with the rhythm of _onetwothreefour_ as Tyler watched quietly. He wondered if-

_Onetwothreefouronetwothreefouronetwothreefour-_

No. Oh no, there was that beat in his head, that steady rhythm of death and penance he was going to suffer through here. This was the worst thing that could happen, that beat of Josh-

There came the golden light, the soft laughter, Josh’s laughter, Tyler trailed up the stairs carefully, cautiously, pausing outside of Josh’s door, thinking to himself, _should I really interrupt?_ but he always did anyways and Josh never cared.

He pushed up from the hard metal bench posing as a bed and locked his hands around the bars of the cell. Things were bright, white, cheery, submerged in ethereal light, because Josh was there, leaning against the prison wall. He smiled, his head tilted, and Tyler backed away from the front of the cell.

“You killed me,” he said, and his smile fell. His body warped into nothing but black shadows that pushed their way through the slots in the cell door and attacked him like a flock of birds. “You KILLED ME!”

“I’m SORRY!” Tyler screamed as he covered his ears, his face, and he screamed as loud as he could, because Josh was right, Tyler had killed him, and there was nothing that could ever be done to fix that. The ambiance of the dark prison faded back into Tyler’s reality as guards piled into his cell, as they held him down, as they soaked him with feeling and punched the craziness out of him.

 _Look what you’ve done_ , the voice echoed in his head, licked his ear mockingly, and Tyler knew he was loving every second of this.

He knew he deserved it.

\---

For the next couple of weeks Tyler fell into autopilot, followed the march of his new life as a steady rhythm pounded in his head and reminded himself how terrible he was. He didn’t eat, he never spoke, not even when he was forced to sit in a room with the prison psychiatrist for an hour. He let the other prisoners mock him, laugh at him, hit him to the point where guards were pulling these monstrous men off Tyler. They hadn’t exactly brought him back to the lab recently, but he dreaded it every day. He was delirious from the lack of sleep he suffered through. His hallucinations became worse and worse as Josh’s golden light turned into the charcoal that clotted his veins. That within itself was punishment enough.

But they did come back for him. He was ripped from his cell, handcuffed, and dragged down the hallways back to that pristine white lab. They skipped the straight jacket, but he was shackled to the point of minimal movement and didn’t put up any resistance despite the voice’s pleas.

“Mr. Joseph,” that woman with the labcoat and clipboard spoke softly as the guards flanked her sides. “So lovely to see you again.”

He didn’t respond.

“So we’ve ran some tests, and I have to say, I’m very impressed. Your DNA is fascinating. Everything about you is fascinating. Enhanced speed, strength, senses, the ability to control life and death itself; I’ve never seen anything quite like you. So my question is Tyler, are there more people like you out there? More metahumans? Surely there have to be. Your family maybe.”

“You leave my family alone,” he growled, pulling up on his restraints. Tyler could feel Blurryface getting antsy, and he knew his grip on the evil within him would not hold for much longer.

“Of course Tyler. If you tell us what we need to know, then we won’t touch your family. We know about them though. Your parents were very popular in the community. Zack was the point guard for his high school basketball team, and you, oh, you ran away, didn’t you?”

Tyler fell back against the wall in defeat. They knew. _Kill them_.

“Do you wonder what happened to your family? It’s been quite a few years. I’m sure they know what you’ve been up to. Your mugshot is posted all over the news.”

Eyes widened. “Do they know-”

“No. This discovery of metahumans is confidential government information. So either we beat the information out of you or you give it to us. Easy as that.”

His jaw locked.

She flipped through some papers on that stupid clipboard. “The structure of your atoms makes it seem like your body isn’t decaying anytime soon. In fact, cell death is almost non existent inside of you. They seem to... fortify. Tell me Mr. Joseph, why is that?”

“Go to hell,” he spat. She chuckled.

“Okay boys, go ahead.” The guards approached Tyler with batons and brass fists and tasers. It wasn’t anything he wasn’t already used to, but he wasn’t going to speak, not one bit.

That first shot of electricity rattled his very soul, but he didn’t scream. Just stared with those dead eyes of his.

“We can do this the hard way Mr. Joseph, but there are much easier ways.”

A fist hit his jaw. He let out a growl, turned his head and spit in one of the guard’s faces. With anger he kneed Tyler in the stomach.

“Can you die Tyler?”

Fist to his nose, blood flowed like a river, electric shock to his neck, his body rattled, and Blurryface screeched inside his head to _let me take over_.

“Break his wrist.”

Tyler screamed as they pushed closer, and the overwhelming _crack_ of his radius splitting in two rang throughout the room. “Okay, okay,” he gasped for air, ignoring the metallic taste of his own blood pouring into his mouth. “No, I c-can’t die, I’m the b-balance of the universe, c-can’t die if I c-can bring myself b-back to life.”

“Now was that really that hard Mr. Joseph? You could have avoided so many injuries.” She clicked her tongue and scribbled down notes. “Does your family have the same abilities you have?”

“N-no,” he couldn’t breathe. Pain consumed and ate him alive. _Shut the fuck up you idiot._ “W-We, were called t-talents, different species-”

“Different species?” her eyes lit up in surprise and Tyler got the wind knocked out of him. He wouldn’t be himself in a few minutes. “Very interesting.”

“The abilities skip gen-generations,” he grunted, curled in on himself, screamed. The guards took a step back as that familiar sensation of losing his mind inflated his body like a balloon. “D-Don’t touch me. He’s-GAH!” he could feel all those eyes on him as he made the switch, and then it was Tyler who was stuck in his own head. His eyes glowed red and the pain no longer bothered the inhuman being. “Howdy Dr. Bitch.”

Her mouth dropped for a split second as she gestured for the guards to move out of his way. “Are you Blurryface?”

“Depends on who’s asking.”

She sighed. “I’m not getting any more answers, am I?”

“The pain doesn’t bother me sweetheart. Go ahead and give it your best shot. I’m so much stronger than Tyler that you won’t get a single thing out of me. In fact, if you wanna try and touch me some more, you know, press all those rodents to my skin and watch them die, I’m all for it. Might be easier if you let me kill you too.” he threw his head back and laughed, watching the fear in her eyes.

“Leave him be,” she instructed, tugging on her security to pull them towards the back door. “We’ll send first aid later, when he’s normal again.”

“Oh come on, you won’t play with me? I promise I won’t bite. Doesn’t seem fair Tyler gets to have all the fun.”

“Do you know it works? The killing?”

“Nope,” he popped the P and tilted his head. “Don’t think Tyler does either. But I, we, know how you scientists work. When humans get afraid, when they find something they don’t understand, they push to the very brink of that inhuman being’s life until they are no longer afraid. But you should be very, _very_ afraid Doctor, because I will escape, and when I, we, do, we’re coming for you.”

“We’ll need to tighten security outside his cell. Move him further under to a single with security at all times. I don’t care what you have to do, just make sure there’s no possible way he can get out.” she shook her head, her voice breathless, before fleeing out the door. The guards followed suit, pausing to lock the door, as heinous cachinnation boomed behind them.


	3. Monster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Those lights that you see, they aren't even there
> 
> Replaced by dark shadows and the beat of a snare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for reading this. I feel like I should be saying more but I have no clue what exactly to say here. I hope things are kinda making sense. I really wanted to take a poetical route this time around and the pieces will all fit eventually.

Late at night when the shadows danced and whispered Tyler would lie awake on his uncomfortable metal bed. They had moved him deep underground in a cell that stretched floor to ceiling in the middle of a wide, open room. A guard stood watch on each corner, two more flanking the door that led to the rest of the prison. They wanted to protect everyone from the man who could kill with a touch of his hands. It was kind of ironic that tiny skin and bones Tyler Joseph was the most dangerous thing inside the asylum. Nobody would expect that.

Sometimes if it was late enough, if Tyler was hungry and delirious, the cell door would slide open, and in the corner with his _onetwothreefour_ Josh would play and offer Tyler his hand. His faded hair was more of a pink nowadays, roots dark, chocolate brown, and they would escape freely, roaming the city with laughter and love.

It always ended the same way though. Josh would melt into a pile of blood and bones and Tyler would scream until the guards stopped him.

He wasn't sure how much longer he'd last in this prison. Surely not much longer.

Tyler Joseph was falling apart.

They pulled him back into that white lab. This time, the straight jacket was hooked back on him, along with all the shackles and chains and leather. Tyler didn’t fight, didn’t speak, didn’t offer solutions or mediation. He could care less what happened to him.

“How’s your wrist?” asked the women in white. Tyler wondered if she noticed how hollow his cheeks were or if she could see the death resonating in his eyes.

“Still broken,” he muttered. She sighed.

“They aren’t going to put you on trial. We proved you were mentally unstable, so for now you will remain here as government property.”

~~_K I L L  H E R  T Y L E R_ ~~

Tyler did not reply.

“I’ve come to have a chat with you once more. You know how things work. You don’t cooperate, and we will have to resort to violence.”

“What now?”

“You mentioned something about another species. Could you elaborate on that for me?”

With a deep breath, Tyler picked his head up and looked her in the eye. “We’re called talents. We’re faster, stronger, smarter than the average human.”

“And you don’t all get the abilities you have?”

“No. It skips around. You really can’t tell who is going to get it. It’s more of a curse above all else.”

“Do you and Blurryface take turns using your mind and body?”

“We fight for power.” _You’re weak._ “I lose more often than I’d like. Right now he’s telling me to kill you.” _Rip her apart._ “To tear you to pieces.”

“But you wouldn’t do that, would you Mr. Joseph? You’re better than that. You said so yourself, you’re everything he’s not.”

“I’m already being used. I killed the only good thing in my life. I could kill. I could let him take over. You’ve seen the men, right? The darkness that wipes away their souls and dances across their veins? That could be you.”

She swallowed nervously and adjusted her glasses. “We had some autopsies done. You stopped their hearts, their lungs, everything. Every single system failed. The cause of death for every one was left undetermined.”

“He cut them all open, didn’t he?” Tyler smirked. “Used their blood to paint a pretty picture. Used Josh’s blood to ruin my life.”

“We couldn’t contact his family,” she said. “I don’t think he’s spoken with them in a long time.”

Tyler scoffed. “No. He hadn’t spoken with his family since he was a teenager. Do you have any other questions or are we done here?”

“There must be so many of you if you're an entire species,” her voice was swimming in disbelief. “Who would have thought?”

“What are you going to do, scour the world for talents? We blend right in. You have no right to take my people and experiment on them like you're doing with me.”

“We could control you and your companion Mr. Joseph. We just need to see what really makes you tick.” She smiled politely, a smile so offsetting it sent shivers down Tyler's spine. “If you have the capabilities to kill and murder, then the rest of you do too. We can't have your kind running about and causing chaos.”

“It seems your kind does enough of that on their own,” Tyler shot back with a growl. She narrowed her eyes.

“How much fun would it be to never have control of your own body Mr. Joseph? Because I can almost guarantee we could give that crazy psychopath inside of you your body full time. He could work for us, as an assassin. He could kill who we needed him to kill.”

_You out of the picture doesn't sound too bad._

“You can't do that,” he replied, but Tyler guessed they probably could. There was all kinds of technology nowadays.

“Of course we can. You think you're going to stop us? Seems you're a bit stuck at the moment.” She laughed, short and sweet, power surging because she and him knew she had the upper hand. “Did you live with other talents?”

“No,” he said. _Don't lie Tyler._

“If I asked your little friend would he answer the same way?”

“Of course he would.” _No I wouldn't._

“Mind if I speak with him?” She gestured towards the guards that never left him alone and Tyler’s heart inched its way farther out his chest. They were going to start hurting him until the pain was so unbearable he either a) passed out or b) switched over. And Tyler knew Blurryface didn't care about anyone enough to protect them.

“I do mind actually. I have control and I'd like to keep it that way.”

She sighed, examining her perfect pink manicure with boredom. “Come on Mr. Joseph, I'd really not like to do this the hard way, but if you keep acting like this that's what is going to have to happen.”

He continued to glare at her. “Do you honestly think I’d give you access to my people? I know what you would do to them.”

“The human race is far superior to yours. That’s the purpose of the government anyways Mr. Joseph, to protect its citizens and provide safety. We can’t have crazy freaks with super powers running through the streets. They need to be contained for the safety of our people.”

“You leave them out of this,” Tyler growled, his eyes narrowed with fury, “What I have done does not in any shape or form reflect on the behaviours of the rest of my species. None of them have harmed any of your people. In fact, most of them haven’t even interacted with your people.”

“It’s a safety precaution.”

“It’s tyranny.”

She waved her hand. “Take that thing off of him. I want access to his arms.” With horror, Tyler pulled away and the armed men began grabbing and pulling roughly. A soft whimper of pain left his lips from his already broken wrist as one of the guards grabbed ahold of his other to rechain him. _Give it up Tyler. The minute the pain is too unbearable I’ll be sliding into home base and I’ll tell them everything. I’ll kill both these guards right now and ruin your life. How’s that sound?_

“You don’t have to do this,” Tyler tried with wide eyes and lack of breath. The woman in white shook her head.

“I’m afraid I do. For every question you do not answer, my men will break one of your fingers.”

“Please no, please don’t-”

“All you have to do is answer me honestly Mr. Joseph. You don’t have to get hurt.”

“That’s selfish,” he responded softly. _Save your own ass before I come in. What do you have to lose? Josh is already dead._

Tyler squeezed his eyes shut.

“Did you live with other talents?”

He prepared for the explosion of pain that would once again eat him alive.

“Tyler? I won’t ask again.”

“Yes,” he said, mouth moving before his brain could stop him.

She smiled. “How many lived with you?”

 _Tell her._ Tyler bit his lip. He couldn’t do this, he had to keep his friends safe. Some of those people, like Brendon, had been running from the law. That was their safe place, it was secure and hidden and Tyler couldn’t destroy that security it brought them.

 _Crack_ went his index finger, and Tyler started howling. He tried to breathe in short rugged breaths, reminding himself that he was doing this to protect his family.

“I’ll ask again. How many?”

Blurryface pounded against his skull. _Come on Tyler. You’re already losing strength_. He wasn’t going to give up, not now, not later. He didn’t care if they broke every bone in his body.

“You’ve got ten fingers Mr. Joseph and I don’t care if I have to break all of them. Answer the damn question.”

“Go to hell.”

A sigh, a crack and one more scream. “Two down, eight to go. It doesn’t have to be this way.”

Tyler’s vision was spotty. He tried to remember the last time he had felt this much pain, but nothing seemed to compare to the hell he was trudging through. He was slipping downhill too quickly for him to get back up on his own two feet.

With a twitch, Tyler looked the girl in the eyes and grinned. “I hope he kills you,” he said monotone, using every ounce of strength he had left. She watched with a hand over her mouth as Tyler’s eyes flickered from brown to red in one blink, both her men jumping away. They were wearing gloves, but neither wanted to take a chance with coming in contact with the murderer’s skin.

“I’d say there’s a little over twenty of us. Josh, you know, that stupid human, lived with Tyler. They were so madly in love it was disgusting. I can’t believe he even touched that thing. Tyler hated humans for the longest time, and I’ve never stopped hating them. I decided I needed to knock Tyler down a few pegs. He was getting a bit too power hungry.”

She was quiet for a few seconds, her eyes wandering, analyzing. “What changed your mind? I thought you weren’t going to answer my questions.”

With a roll of his eyes, Blurryface sighed obnoxiously. “I don’t care for a single person we live with. To see Tyler topple, to see him give up, nothing would make me happier. I’d get access to this body full time. Then I can finally make it useful.”

The girl in white was suspicious, he could tell. “Did you live in the city?”

“The woods actually. There was this old building Tyler and his guardians of the galaxy repurposed to make it a safe haven.” A laugh. “They put Tyler in charge. How ridiculous.”

“Interesting.” she scrawled some notes. “Were any of these other beings dangerous or impulsive?”

“I think I’d like to see you find that out on your own.” a sadistic smirk rose to his lips. “You’d be dead before any of you got through the door.”

“So they would kill?”

“Anyone can kill, Dr. Bitch. Doesn’t take much.”

“I appreciate the cooperation. Is there anything we can get you?”

His grin widened. “Tell that damn psychiatrist to give us a notebook.”

\---

Tyler wrote a lot.

It was a good coping mechanism he thought. His handwriting was terribly messy, but if he wrote quick enough he could write the bad thoughts on paper to remind himself that he deserved every second of torture, pain, and madness that was brought upon him. Blurryface had already told the government everything and he had no doubt they would go looking for the building that contained all his friends.

He wondered how things had gone south so fast. Tyler had been _happy_.

And now he was suffering.

He turned to a clean page. Blurry wrote a lot too, but his handwriting was clean, readable, because he took his sweet time so every dart of venom on each page soaked Tyler’s hands in gasoline, so seeing it would be the match to strike up the flames licking their way into his heart.

 

_Happiness is only brief_

_It only brings me some relief_

 

_With my hands of heinous vile_

_I wash my sins with in denial_

 

_There’s gas on my hands, not what I had planned_

_To lose control and kill a man_

 

_He killed him and I killed he_

_My happiness was never meant to be_

 

_And as his eyes faded like a broken fuse_

_It’s clear fear will win and peace will lose_

 

_As the night comes to an end_

_As I’m stuck with a heart that will never mend_

 

_I face the fact that I’ll never be okay_

_Not without his light that got me through the day_

 

Tyler choked, the tears he had tried to keep in spilling over the edges. Some landed in his notebook, staining the page, and with a shaky hand he wrote the last line. He needed to finish this so he could tear it out and shove it under his pillow to be reminded day and night that what he did was so evil he deserved to rot here.

  
_I killed_ ~~_the_ ~~ _my sun_


	4. Carnage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something fallen heroes never mention
> 
> is how hard it is to find redemption.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A look into Tyler's mind.

They moved his therapy sessions to his cell in that wide open room. Along with his own six personal guards, the psychiatrist was accompanied by two more as he sat down in a metal folding chair across from Tyler who sat cross legged behind the bars. He continued to stare, just like he always did. Words never left his mouth. And why would they? It never really mattered in the end.

But they might this time, because they had taken his notebook, and he could see it resting in the doctor’s hands. That was  _ his _ and he wanted it back.

“Good morning Tyler.”

Silence. He stared at his hands twitching his lap. He oughta cut those vicious things off.

“I thought we could talk about your notebook today. I’m glad you’re able to get some things off your chest, as I seem to fail it that department.”

“You shouldn’t have read it,” he spoke for the first time since they started forcing him to go to these stupid therapy sessions. How long had he been trapped in this place?

“I know, it’s private. But you’re also in prison Tyler, and things are different here.” Tyler realized he didn’t even know the psychiatrist’s name. He was an older man, with round glasses, a goatee, and greying hair. “I know I’m only the prison shrink, but I really think talking about everything you’re building up in this leather bound book is a good idea Tyler. They don’t tell me much, but I know you’re different than any other prisoner here. You’re yin and yang, balance and chaos, and I know the balanced part of you feels guilty.” He cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses, preparing to read.

“‘What vile creatures hands can be, an independent part of me.’ This is balance, am I correct?”

Tyler didn’t reply.

“Two sets of handwriting, two different psyches, two completely different sets of thoughts and feelings. I’m in awe. Is this a disorder you have? I don’t see it written in your file.”

He caught the doctor’s eye with a scoff. “A disorder I could handle. He’s a completely separate being.”

The doctor looked up at the guards for clarification, but they only shrugged. He moved on. “I’d like to discuss some of the drawings in here. They’re very good, but worrisome.” the journal was flipped towards him, and a picture of Tyler’s hands coated in thick black tar wrapped around the throat of a man stared back.

It wasn’t just any man.

“Can you tell me about this?”

“I didn’t draw it,” Tyler mumbled.

“Chaos.”

It wasn’t a question, but Tyler answered anyways. “Yes.”

“The man in all these drawings seems to be recurring. Do you know him?”

He counted ten seconds as slowly as possible in his head before answering in the tiniest voice possible. “I loved him.”

Tyler was thankful the psychiatrist didn’t seem bothered by this information. “You killed him?”

“I killed him.” He started crying, darkened fingertips tracing the cracks in the cement floor.

“His death has damaged you over everyone else?”

“Yes.”

“They’ve certainly put a toll on you here, haven’t they? I’m so sorry Tyler. I wish I could do more than talk. But I really appreciate you speaking with me today. I hope we can talk more in the future. I’d like to meet chaos sometime.”

“No you wouldn’t.” his head whipped up, dead eyes baring into the doctor’s very soul. “He’s the most evil thing in the entire world.”

“I don’t think-”

“Tell them to tell you all about me. They’ll tell you how messed up I am in the head. They’ll tell you how crazy I am, how dangerous and damaged I am. They’ll tell you everything.”

“Now Tyler,-”

“I see him Doctor, I see him in the hallways of the prison and I see him in my cell and he never leaves me alone. His stupid gold light follows me everywhere and it gets into the very deepest parts of my broken, deteriorating soul. He knows, and he will never forgive me.”

The man with his glasses and goatee and greying hair was silent for the first time since he started working with his new patient.

“Do I get my journal back or not? Or do they have to study that too?” he tilted his head, clenching his jaw in the process.

“I’ll get you a new one.”

“He doesn’t want a new one.” When the psychiatrist met Tyler’s eyes once more, they were no longer brown, but the crimson that branded his eyelids. “I don’t want a new one.”

“We need to get you out of here right now,” said one guard as he grabbed the doctor by his forearm. Tyler could recognize the mix of emotions flashing in his terrified eyes even as he watched through his own malice. Fear. Curiosity. Regret.

“You’re chaos,” he whispered, body shaking. With a tilt of his head, Blurryface grinned.

“I’ve never heard that term before, but I like it.”

“Now,” the same guard repeated, and the man with the greying hair allowed himself to be pulled away, his head ringing, still fixated on the glowing eyes locked in the cage.

\---

In the middle of the night, Tyler woke up to glowing gold light.

“NO!!!” he screamed, curling his body into a tight ball, trying to hide from Josh. He couldn’t face his sins any longer. It hurt too bad, was too much for him to deal with. His soul was in pieces now, never to be revived because you couldn’t resurrect something that was never alive, never fully intact, in the first place.

Josh would never leave him alone.

“Come with me,” he whispered, setting his hand on Tyler’s waist. Tyler screamed again.

“YOU AREN’T REAL!”

“I’ll get you out of here.” his honey mocha eyes crinkled at the corners when Tyler peeked over his shoulder. Josh flexed his arms, his skin transparent because of that stupid light that always came with him. “Let’s go back home.”

“Please leave me alone,” Tyler sobbed, trying his hardest to ignore the angel behind him.

“Let me play for you Tyler.”

“No.”

“You never even said goodbye,” Josh’s voice changed in a matter of seconds to the demonic gruff the voices had. Tyler felt his hand go through his chest and he gasped for air as blood spilled onto the floor. “You killed me.”

The scene glitched into the barren walls of the prison where Tyler sat with his knees pulled up to his chest, two, four, six,  _ eight _ guards surrounding him with guns in their hands. He let his tears flow.

They wanted to know how he had escaped his cell. “You killed six guards,” they told him as Tyler continued to cry. He hadn’t meant to do it. He didn’t know he did it. It wasn’t him.

But they were his hands.

His vile, vile hands.

How much longer could he live out his days like this? This wasn’t living, this was surviving.

They watched him all the time now because  _ no more people could die.  _ It had been a little over a month since he was brought here and for the first time since Tyler finally worked up the courage to look at himself in the mirror.

His face was significantly thinner, prison tended to do that to a person. He looked sick, with sunken eyes, hollow cheeks, that wide scratch across his nose from the last time he had been invited back to the white lab and refused to speak, the permanent scars that lined his cheekbones. One month and he was here the rest of his life.

Oh god, he was going to fall apart.

They put him back in cuffs and shackles and dragged him down the hallways.

\---

“You’re looking for redemption,” said the psychiatrist the next time he visited. Tyler found out his name was Dr. Quinn, and was also surprised he did visit again. Blurry usually scared off most people. “That’s why you keep seeing that man.”

“Why are you back here?” Tyler latched onto the bars. “Surely you know what I am.”

“We deal with our demons in several ways Tyler. You just have to deal with yours in a physical sense.”

Tyler stared at the ground. “I’ll never get redemption. He’s dead.”

“Would you like to tell me his name?”

He was hesitate, but eventually gave in. “Josh.”

“That’s a nice name. I have a nephew named Josh.”

Tyler scoffed. “I’ll try not to kill him.”

“I know you were unaware of the murders.”

“It doesn’t make me any less guilty. You read it yourself. What vile creatures hands can be.” a bitter laugh. “I’m about as vile as it comes.”

“They told me you have the power of resurrection. If you had the chance to bring Josh back to life, would you?”

“He deserves a second chance at life. He had a family, and friends, and-” Tyler stopped himself short. “He deserves a life without me in it trying to transform it.”

“In order for you to find your redemption, you have to let Josh go. You need to ask yourself if he would forgive you.”

“He wouldn’t.”

“I think he would. Did he love you back?”

“He told me he did. I betrayed him.”

“No one will know how Josh felt besides himself Tyler, but it’s up to you to make amends with the mistake you made. Only you can fix things. If you let him go, he leaves you alone.”

“I don’t want him to leave. I don’t want to forget about him. If I forget about him...” The crying started again. “He made me happy. He was a match in utter darkness.”

“Gold represents hope. Maybe deep down you’re hopeful.”

“Gold also represents insanity,” Tyler muttered. “Maybe I’m going crazy.”

“You’re strong Tyler. I can see it in your eyes. Most of the people here are big and strong in a physical sense, but you’re mentally strong. That’s what happens when you’re forced to deal with your demons on a daily basis. Things are going to get better for you here, I promise.”

“No they won’t. Because I’m government property, and all they use me for are their stupid experiments and answers. Maybe one day they’ll see if I’m fireproof and burn me to a crisp.”

“As human beings, we are often lost in grief and sorrow to recognize the flicker of hope inside ourselves. I know you can find that Tyler. You’re here to be reformed, and when you’re better you can leave.”  _ Lies. _

“They’ll never reform me. There’s nothing left  _ to _ reform.”

Dr. Quinn sighed and looked down at his watch. “Remember who you are Tyler. See past all the terrible things that happened and find the hope you know you have somewhere. You don’t have to be afraid, you don’t have to let the damage consume you, you can stand up and start over again. Look at your hands and see creation, not destruction. You tell chaos that balance rules all.”

“You don’t understand!” Tyler was angry now, his hands shaking as he pulled on the bars. “Things don’t WORK LIKE THAT!”

“Stand down Joseph,” warned the guard that stood to Tyler’s left.

“Tyler,” he spoke softly, not ever once raising his voice. “Please listen to me.”

“Leave me alone. I’m done talking to you.” with a sniff Tyler turned his back towards the doctor and folded his arms across his chest. Life had no purpose. He realized that now.

“Sir, it’s time to go,” said a different guard. The sound of shuffling came from behind Tyler as Dr. Quinn stood up from his chair.

“Take care Tyler.”

The minute the door slammed shut, a hand settled on Tyler’s shoulder. It didn’t take much to figure out who it was; the light provided his hint.

“I’ll never forgive you,” he whispered, lips pressed to the shell of Tyler’s ear. 

Tyler already knew that.

He had known that for a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (And yes Dr. Quinn is named after Harleen Quinzel, Arkham Asylum pyschiatrist)
> 
> see what I did there


	5. Resurrection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even a hero needs help sometimes
> 
> And by chance a sidekick rises to help with his crimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A balloon can only rise so far into the atmosphere before it pops.

The problem with humanity was that they never stopped. They never questioned whether something was right or wrong and what the outcome would do to other people.

And so when homebase was discovered, humanity did everything they believed to be right on their end. They didn’t care about the other species screaming in pain, or scrambling to get away. They marched in with guns and knives and threatening tones.

Each talent was locked with handcuffs and stuffed in the back of a truck with no clue of what was going to happen to them. All they knew was that things weren’t going to end pretty, not when humans got involved. Not when the majority got involved.

“You’re government property now,” said the men in suits with their fancy badges and weapons, and the talents realized that humans viewed themselves as gods.

The woman in white, as told by Blurryface, was more than happy to be receiving her new shipments of this newly discovered secret species. She wanted to see what these so called talents were capable of. However, when a talent himself came to her with a proposed plan, a plan so good it would change history, she couldn’t say no.

He told her everything, about his clan, about the clans around them, and especially about his plan. He wanted to turn humans into these so called metahumans, wanted to see if it was possible in order to assimilate the human race. Of course, he didn’t tell her these exact words. He mentioned super soldiers for the government.

“What a genius idea,” she responded, and granted him permission to use some of the bodies Tyler made a mess of as test subjects. She granted him access to a lab, and even to some of Tyler’s stolen family.

The man with the faded red-pink-brown hair and pale skin caught his attention immediately only because he could so strongly feel the presence of other talents on him. The man was human, but maintained a psychic connection with one who was not. He was strong enough for things to work.

But if this was going to be done right, and was going to be successful unlike times past, this corpse was going to have to be revived in a way that wasn’t possible.

For humans at least.

\---

They came for Tyler in the early hours of the morning.

He hadn’t been back to the lab in a while, but when multiple guards reached out to grab him and chain him he knew that was where he was being taking. He wondered what information that stupid lady would need now.

Except they walked right past the usual white lab and continued down the hallway.

Tyler craned his neck to look behind him, stumbling over his own feet and grimacing when the guards yanked him forward. “Where are we going?”

“Don’t worry about it Joseph.”

Tyler didn’t say another word.

After a few more minutes of walking, they pulled the broken man into an elevator, went down several floors, and dragged him down another hallway. The walls were grey and dark and dreary, much like the rest of the prison, but at the end was a door that looked like it should not have been there. It was big and clean, and from the other side Tyler could hear screaming.

_I think we might be joining this party_ , rang the voice in his head. Tyler scowled as the guards continued pulling him.

The woman in white opened the heavy, clean door and smiled at Tyler politely when she noticed him in his shackles. “I’m so glad you could make it Mr. Joseph. I think this is something you definitely don’t want to miss seeing.” her smile warped into a sick grin as she pulled the door farther so the guards could push Tyler through. He fell to his knees, growling under his breath.

And then, he noticed his surroundings.

In their open separate wing were his roommates and family, each in their own cell. They looked tired and broken and Tyler couldn’t find the words to express how angry he was.

“Tyler?” someone coughed out, and when he turned his head towards the voice he could hardly recognize Pete. The poor man was covered in blood and dirt and looked worse for wear than Tyler had ever seen before. He slid his hands around the bars of the cell, his bruised knuckles catching Tyler’s attention.

“Pete,” he whispered back. “Pete, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

“We were all so worried about you, and they, they...” Pete trailed off, his eyes going wide as the two guards from before pulled Tyler up off the ground and kicked him forward.

“You’ll have time to speak with your folks later Mr. Joseph,” the blonde spoke with venom and Tyler began screaming bloody murder. He could feel several pairs of eyes on him and hoped they were being strong. If anyone fell apart here, it was on him.

“You BITCH! YOU CAN’T DO THIS!” he used all his strength to push backwards against the guards, kicking his feet out to stop them from dragging him any further. “I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!”

She only laughed and shut the door behind them, welcoming him to the insane white walls of another pristine lab.

Tyler continued to struggle as they chained him back up to the wall and her heels _click clacked_ across the floor.

“Now Mr. Joseph, you know how things work around here, don’t you? Today I have questions about your friends. Except this time, things are going to be a little bit different.” With a wave of her manicured hand the guards disappeared through the door and returned with a whimpering Brendon. His hair fell in his eyes and there was a giant scratch that stretched the length of his cheekbone. He looked at Tyler in fear as they strapped him to a table just a few feet away.

“No,” he mouthed, yanking up hard on his restraints. “You leave him alone!”

“We won’t harm your friend if you and him both cooperate. If not, things will have to get bloody. Now,” she turned towards Brendon with a sly smirk on her lips, “What’s your name?”

“Don’t answer her,” Tyler yelled, “Don’t give in to her mind tricks!”

She feigned a gasp. “Oh Mr. Joseph, I wouldn’t think of doing such a thing. We’re only trying to find out more is all. Besides, if we can find out everything we need to, then we start with our own plans.”

“What’s that?” Brendon spit out with wide eyes. Tyler leaned forward in fear. _You know about her plans Tyler. Deep down, you know. And you know what she’s going to use us for._

“We’re going to use you for our own use. Plus, we have a few little projects going on.” She pointed to Brendon. “Someone brought us these chips. Insert them into the metahuman and their powers become inhibited. I’m not sure what half these people do in the first place, so it’s up to you Mr. Joseph to tell me. Or, your friend here. I still never caught your name.”

“Brendon,” he mumbled. Lady White smiled.

“I appreciate the cooperation Brendon. Now, would you mind telling me what you can do?” He looked at the floor and shook his head. Tyler had never seen Brendon so vulnerable before, not even when he had brought him back home for the first time. It made him furious.

“We just need to keep you under close supervision is all. Nothing is going to happen if you only explain-”

“No one is going to explain anything to you!” Tyler interrupted with a growl. “Because you guys are crazy and sick!”

She laughed. “Says the guy who murdered over a hundred people, including the love of his life.”

Tyler fell back against the wall in defeat. She was right. He was just as messed up. _That’s right pretty boy. You are fucked up, and you know that. So surrender. Let your friends die, because you know I will._

He tried to ignore the burning in his chest when Brendon looked over at him in a mixture of fear and disbelief.

With a slight movement of her thick frames, she _click clacked_ back behind a lab table and reached into a drawer, standing back up only seconds later to reveal a small, silver remote in her palm. “I’ll give you one last chance to give me information.”

A few seconds of tense silence passed before a small smile rose to Brendon’s face and he pushed up as far as his restraints would let him. “Fuck you.”

And then he was screaming.

Tyler watched his friend’s body thrash and shift and pull on the table with fury coursing through his veins. So much anger in fact that he could feel his control slowly slipping away. They were going to hurt every single one of his friends and there was nothing he could do about it.

“Not only do those chips inhibit their powers, but it also sends wave after wave of hot white pain throughout the body. Quite a pleasant thing to watch, isn’t it?” a smirk slipped comfortably back onto her face. “Speaking of which, we need to put one in you still, don’t we?”

“I’m going to break out of here,” Tyler spat, doing some thrashing of his own, “and when I do I’m going to murder each and every one of you with my bare hands. You’re just as bad as me.”

“We have someone working on a way to control you guys. A way that forces you to obey every word, every phrase, every command, given to you. And I’d like to think that you’d be the first person we activated this with. So boys, let’s get a chip installed in Mr. Joseph, okay?” she flashed him one last smile before clicking the remote off and dropping in on the counter. As she disappeared behind the door and Brendon gasped for air, the guards cut into Tyler’s skin, and the room filled with more screams.

\---

They couldn’t believe this man, this once dead corpse, was alive once more. It hadn’t been easy, and required the efforts of several people over several days, but here the ring leader stood with a large smile on his face. There stood his creation: a man of pure energy. A man so bright, so dangerous, so submissive, that nothing would go wrong.

“We did it,” he whispered, clasping his hands together. “I can’t believe we did it.”

Another man nudged him. “Will you be informing them?”

“Not yet. I need to make sure he’s functioning properly. I’m sure being reanimated puts a toll on someone, human or not.” he laughed. “We changed history Vecchio. Do you know what this means for talents? What it means for the human race?”

“You told the government we were going to make them super soldiers for war.”

“Don’t be stupid. I know what I said. We have to have our little friends trust us you know. We can’t start off betraying them.”

“We’re already betraying our own kind,” huffed a girl quietly. She sat in the back, staring at her feet. The ring leader knew she never really had believed in the plan, but still believed she would warm up to it.

“Another clan getting kidnapped was only a casualty that we had nothing to do with. It’s all timing Chrissy. Some may even call it fate.” He winked and turned to admire his creation once more. “I’d like to thank you too Boyd. Definitely couldn’t have done this without your help.”

“Anytime,” Boyd muttered, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. It seemed only one person truly believed what they were doing was correct.

“You guys do realize that we gave this man another chance at life right? Instead of viewing the cup as half empty, think of all the good we are doing for him.”

“He doesn’t even know who he is as a person anymore. We don’t even know his name.” Chrissy’s voice teetered on the edge of hysteria and she cast her eyes to the ground as a glare was tossed her way.

“Whoever he once was doesn’t matter anymore. He was killed by a very evil man, just like all those other people. He might have been human, but he had connections to talents. The very talents that got kidnapped in fact.” he grinned. “I wonder if they killed him.”

“Wouldn’t be surprised.” Vecchio mumbled. He refused to look up.

“We need to speak with these captured talents if we want to continue turning humans. You think Lady Liberty would let me harvest their DNA?”

“I think you’re going to get caught.” Chrissy spoke up, standing up from her spot in the back. “And when you do, I don’t want to be there. I don’t want to end up with a chip in my neck and behind bars because I can stop people from moving. Whatever you’re doing here, whatever you are planning to do, things are going to go south and you know it.”

“Have some faith baby,” his smile turned into a seductive smirk as the girl with her rosy red lips and long brown hair stomped out of the room. She couldn’t believe what they had done, what  _she_ had done.

Chrissy decided she was going to help her kind out.


	6. Rebirth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Broken people take a while to mend
> 
> Just like those liquid bruises laid across his skin

Screams thumped in his brain and his vision twirled like he was looking through a kaleidoscope. He could hardly comprehend what exactly was going on; if not for the being that shared a body with him, he most likely wouldn’t be able to understand a thing. All he knew was that he was hurting, other people were hurting, and things weren’t going to end well. Maybe it was finally due time that they were going to off him.

_You finally awake?_

Tyler’s nose scrunched up in a grimace as he blinked a few more times. He was still in the white lab by his family. Those were their screams of agony and pain.

His body ached from sitting in slack for so long and there wasn’t a single person around for him to call to. Brendon was gone, no longer on that operating table and probably locked back away in an unsanitary cell.

“What do you want?” he grumbled, pulling loosely on his chains.

_The chip Tyler. They put that damn chip in us, and I can’t take control anymore. I need you to get it out._

Tyler scoffed. “Not happening. This is actually a good thing.”

_I’m your only hope of getting out of here._

“You want to kill all my friends. I belong in here. They don’t.” Tyler could hear Blurry sigh obnoxiously.

_Fine, let me rephrase that. I’m your only hope of getting your friends out of here. We need to get the chip out. It’s in your neck. We need to wait for them to come back for you, and when they do we do whatever we can to get out of their grasp. All we need is something sharp to dig it out-_

“I’m not doing this. I _belong_ here where we can’t hurt anyone any more.” he shifted again, face twisting in pain.

 _We can’t save your friends unless you save yourself first_.

“This isn’t about me. It’s never about me. It’s you, it’s always fucking about you.” Tyler willed himself to stand up and leaned his head back against the wall. Blurry growled.

_You’re a fucking idiot Tyler, can’t you see that? Look at the bigger picture. This isn’t about me or about you. It’s about the entire talent species as a whole. We need to get out. We need to get your friends out. We need to protect our species._

“And since when do you care about who we are?” his fingertips were starting to tingle with fury. This had been a long day coming for Tyler. Everyday things continued to build and build and build and he had refused to let it all come out. But it seemed that was no longer the case. A man couldn’t hold everything forever.

He would explode.

“I am so fucking tired of everything you do to me and to everyone else. You are evil and horrible and I’ve known that since day one. Somehow, I always feel myself being drawn towards you. I know we are the same person. I know things will go south if either one of us isn’t around. Listen to me. I need you to see that too.”

_I never meant to kill Josh._

Tyler choked, and tried to shake the tears away.

_I’m serious when I say that. Things... things got out of hand. But we can go find him. You can grant him life again, we can send him on his way if you only get this fucking chip-_

“It’s a little too late for that, don’t you think? He’s been dead for several weeks. Even if I did try and get this chip out, even if I did manage to get to him, his body is in too much decay. He’d be in too bad of shape for me to even get to him. Nice try though.” he squeezed his eyes shut and wished it would all go away. Every single thing, the guilt, the grief, the pain, and especially the villain inside his chest. “I want them to kill me. God, I think about it every day, I just was this to all be over.”

 _We can’t die_.

“I fucking know that!” Tyler screamed, yanking hard on his restraints with all his strength. He ruined everything. He had been so close to building up this perfect life, one with friends, his family, one with the person he loved. He and Josh, they were going to be _married_ someday.

Now Josh would never marry anyone.

And so Tyler cried and cried and cried, heaving until his chest would no longer permit it. It didn’t matter what he did to right his wrongs, they would always be wrongs permanently branded behind his eyelids.

_Crying isn’t going to do anything to help you Tyler. You know that. I know that. And if you help me out, I’ll-_

“Do I look like a fucking idiot to you? Because I’m not. Now please, _please_ just leave me alone. I’m begging you. Please.”

For once, Blurry actually disappeared.

\---

His creation woke up.

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon when the mastermind behind the project, a man named Brent Wilson, wandered into the lab to check on his test subject. He had asked for unlimited access to the kidnapped clan, and the woman in white happily agreed when he told her she could come see how well things were working out. She had informed him her and her team would be making a visit later that evening to view his progress.

She also gave him a file. The human-turned-talent was a man by the name of Joshua Dun, age 24. He was killed by Tyler Joseph, a talent.

Brent clucked his tongue when he read that in the file. He had known all along that this man, this Josh Dun, had connections to a talent. He wasn’t sure how, and he wasn’t sure how they had developed a psychic bond, but that had to be the explanation for how he was able to endure all the changes to his molecules and body structure. The man was _pure energy_ now, resurrected from the dead, but not fully living. His skin was tinted with a shine like a dull sun, and his eyes were blacker than a dead star. Brent stared in awe as Josh paced his tiny glass chamber, his bare feet shuffling across the cement aimlessly.

“Hey,” he spoke softly, tilting his head curiously. Josh was quick to slam his fists upon the glass and bare his teeth. “I know things must be a little confusing right now, but I need you to listen to me. Can you do that?” Josh’s facial expression softened as he let his arms hang limply by his sides. “You work for me. Is that clear?” a nod. “Good. I’ll let you out a little later, alright? Someone is coming to visit you later, but she doesn’t know the real reason I created you. And now that I have you, we can make more. All those corpses...” Brent rubbed his hands together giddily and looked back up at Josh. “As soon as you kill her, you’ll be free to use your powers at ease. As for now, we had to put a chip in you, just in case. I couldn’t have the government getting suspicious. They might already be suspicious. We have to be careful.”

Josh grunted, spun in a circle and dropped to the floor, crossing his legs as he looked at Brent like he was waiting for his next order. Brent continued to stare with lust in his eyes.

He was proud of his work, that was for sure. He was proud he had talented people a part of it: Boyd, who was able to change Josh’s chemical nature in the first place, and Vecchio, who could change the mind. Even Chrissy was an added bonus; she knew what she was doing, and even if she was still wary, she’d come around. He knew she would. Without his team, he had no clue what he would have done.

The lady in white and her slew of security guards arrived at the lab later that night. He stood outside the door with his hand resting on the door handle, waiting.

“He’s still a little hazy. Give him time. I’ll give you my notes to look through.”

“Of course,” she replied. “Now let’s go in.”

“Not so fast.” Brent raised an eyebrow and gestured to each man flanking her sides. “Only you.”

“Now Mr. Wilson, you know-”

“I said only you. Take it or leave it.” they both glared at one another briefly, her eye twitching before a sigh left her red soaked lips.

“Fine.”

“Thank you for your cooperation.” he winked at the guards and pulled the door open, grinning sadistically as she walked past him.

A gasp. “Oh my God.”

There Josh stood, his hands on the glass and his head cocked like a scene straight out of _The Poltergeist._ He still wore very minimal clothing and some scarring still covered his body from his accident with Tyler.

“He’s a beauty, isn’t he?” Brent leaned against the wall and crossed his arms as Lady White scribbled some observations on her clipboard.

“I’ve never... this man was dead!”

“Courtesy of two of my own. I told you we could do it. He’s fast, he’s strong, he can combust into flames; he’ll be the perfect weapon for war.”

She swung around to face him. “And you can create more of these? A whole army perhaps?”

“Of course I can. I’ll just need you to keep that clan locked up and let me visit at will. Talent DNA is hard to come by you know. There aren’t many of us that are _that_ stupid.”

“Of course Mr. Wilson, anything you need. Skin cells, fingernails, hell, I don’t care if you cut out an entire tongue. Just make me more of these... beautiful creatures.” she tapped the glass with a nail in admire, watching, still observing Josh’s strange, animalistic behaviour before spinning on her heel, lab coat fluttering behind her.

Brent wasn’t done quite yet.

“One more thing Doctor.” He stepped forward, his arms still crossed as he tried to make himself come across as intimidating as he possibly could. He needed to get further into Josh’s mind without letting the man know just exactly who he was. He needed the mastermind, the murderer, the man of a hundred and one sins.

She narrowed her eyes. “What else could you possibly need?”

“I need you to bring me Tyler Joseph.”

A wicked grin spread across the doctor’s face. “ _That_ I can do.”


	7. Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The things people don't tell you when you're shaking with laughter
> 
> is the reality of a happily ever after

He knew it was serious when six heavy armoured guards came to retrieve him. Tyler watched them closely, but he didn’t bother to put up a fight. He knew there was no use. Besides, they were probably going to take him back upstairs to his one roomed cell.

Then one came at him with a needle. “Need you to be asleep for this,” he said in a gruff voice before using one gloved hand to yank Tyler by the hair and the other to jam the tranquilizer into his neck.

They then dragged the lifeless man in his shackles down the hallway with his family, ignoring the yelling and words being thrown their way. Many of the guards weren’t sure why this man, this “Tyler Joseph,” was so important. Sure, he wasn’t human, but that didn’t change the fact that he was a low life murderer and criminal just like everyone else in this prison.

The journey continued, the six plus one marching through the maze of hallways until they entered the restricted access area, the area government workers did all their work in. It was cleaner than the rest of the prison, shiny white walls that made it look like something futuristic. With approval, they were allowed into a lab and tossed Tyler into a glass chamber, peeling off his shackles and cuffs before leaving the room.

It took a while before Tyler woke up, and when he did the room was spinning and he felt like he couldn’t breathe.

_ They took us somewhere. _

Tyler groaned as he leaned against the wall. He pushed fingers into his eyes before sliding them up to his hair, grabbing fistfuls as if that would somehow make himself feel better. “Where are we?”

_ I can only see as much as you with that stupid chip. Stand up. You aren’t chained. _

Sure enough, when Tyler glanced down, his wrists and ankles were free of any silver chains, and he blinked a couple more times just to make sure it wasn’t all some terrible trick of the light. With a shaky breath, he hoisted himself up and walked to the wide window displayed in front of him. “We’re in some kind of cell.”

_ Back in another lab though. _

Tyler sighed. “Yeah. Yet another lab.”

_ You think they’re going to do more experiments on us? _

“What the hell else can they do?” he scoffed, leaning his head against the cool glass. The events of the past weeks were suddenly catching up to him all too fast.

He stayed like that for awhile, eyes squeezed shut and breathing shallow, taking in how messed up things were right now. It was nice having silence for once, to not be around screaming or guns, or even Blurry whispering in his ear. It was just Tyler, alone to be consumed by the quiet.

Then of course, the door to the room opened.

He looked up through the glass, cautious and sharp as a man with shaggy brown hair and a wide smile entered. He looked like the last person to be a scientist, wearing normal street clothes with a labcoat over it, almost like he just walked in here despite all the security. Tyler could feel Blurry getting antsy.

“Tyler Joseph,” he sang, picking up a clipboard off one of the counters. Tyler watched him flip through the papers as he continued speaking. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

“Who are you?” asked Tyler with narrowed eyes. He spoke loudly, not sure if the guy could hear him through the glass wall.

“We don’t need to worry about that right now. I have a few questions for you.” with a grin he abandoned the clipboard and stepped right in front of the window, his arms strung across his chest.

That was the moment when Tyler realized that this man was a talent.

“You’re not human,” he said in disbelief. The man laughed.

“There you go. Now Tyler, I’ve heard that you’re pretty good at killing people.”

Tyler did not respond. He stared with a clenched jaw and fury began building in his eyes. How had another talent managed to get into this building? Why wasn’t he under investigation, locked away in a cell like everyone else?

“Come on Tyler, I know you can cooperate. I told them that the chains were a little excessive. I mean, it’s the twenty-first century, we don’t need such primitive ways of containment or torture really.” his smile widened. “Alright pretty boy, you got me. My name is Brent Wilson. I’m a scientist here.”

“How?”

“I have my ways. I also know that they have quite a bit of your clan in captivity. And by quite a bit I mean all of them.” Brent began pacing back and forth, that wicked smile never leaving his face. “Tyler, what can you tell me about your friends?”

“Absolutely nothing.” he glared.  _ I think I hate this guy more than Dr. Bitch. _

“Oh come on pretty boy, you can trust me. I’m like you.”

“You’re a traitor. Those people are suffering because the government wants to tear them apart.”

“It’s a safety precaution. I don’t blame them.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Tyler! It’s okay my friend.” Brent paused in his rapid pacing, shooting Tyler an uneasy look. “We are metahumans, which makes us dangerous. And if you would cooperate and listen, no one would have to get hurt. Like your buddy Brendon. He’s a pretty cool guy. Definitely stylish, a little bit attractive. Now if he would have straight up told us he could manipulate frequencies, we wouldn’t have had to almost kill him.” He laughed, one so shrill and evil that it sent a row of goosebumps down Tyler’s skin. “We got so many more people left to dig into.”

“Are you actually enjoying this? The torture of your own kind? What’s the point in all of this?”

“I’ll tell you, because I like you Tyler. If we can find out the abilities of the talents we have in captivity, then we can decide what DNA to use for our newly inducted members.”

Tyler’s face twisted into confusion and a little bit of horror, mostly because he was almost certain he knew what that meant. “What?”

“We’re making humans like us. Making them stronger, better, you know. The people here assume I’m making them super soldiers for war and whatnot, but humans are gullible and plain stupid. I just want to assimilate the human race - the more I create, the more I have obeying me. The more I have to command and control to help me fix the world.”

Oh yeah. That was way worse than what Tyler had been expecting. “You can’t do that,” he said softly, eyes wide with fear.

“I already have though. Have you ever heard of the name Josh Dun?”

Tyler swore his heart stopping working. With sweaty palms, he tripped backwards, letting his back hit the wall so hard it knocked the wind out of him (not that he was breathing in the first place.) Even Blurryface was panicking inside of him.

“Now this dude was a regular human, nothing special. He had a low paying job, didn’t really have any friends, never spoke to his family, but the weird thing about him was that he reeked of talent interaction. Which was weird to me. Why would a human be interacting with talents? Even more suspicious, how on earth did one have some kind of psychic connection with a talent?”

Tyler shoved his hands over his ears and struggled to keep his tears in. This couldn’t be happening.

Brent wasn’t done yet. “Then I realized that you were the person that killed him. Tyler Joseph, the leader of a talent clan. And everything fell into place. Tell me Tyler, how could you fall in love with a human and then murder him?”

“I didn’t mean to,” he whispered, but this was the same conversation he had had with everyone. There was no point to a conversation like this. The guilt eating away his insides would never leave, nor would the pain or regret.

“Don’t beat yourself up about it pretty boy, you killing your lover was possibly the best thing to ever happen to me. Now come along, we’re going to go on a field trip.” Tyler pushed himself into the corner of the cell when the door opened with a loud hiss. Brent took a step in, leaning against the wall as he raised an eyebrow. “Come on Tyler. Up and at em.”

He probably could have escaped if he wanted to, just up and bolted out of the room. Unfortunately Tyler was stuck in the state that Josh was gone and it was his fault to do any of that. He wasn’t sure how he could function around here.

“I’m sorry to have to do this,” Brent said with a sad shake of his head, and suddenly the man coming for Tyler wasn’t the crazy haired scientist, but the redhaired angel Tyler had stolen life from. He was angry, snarling and coming at Tyler with every intent to kill. The room around them melted and warped into a silver liquid; Tyler screamed and screamed as Josh shoved his hand through his chest, squeezing his beating heart until it no longer could function. 

“You KILLED ME!” he screamed as the light faded from the broken man’s eyes.

Unable to bear any more of the pain, Tyler let his eyelids flutter and collapsed onto the concrete.

As he made his way back into the real world, Tyler realized he was being pushed down the hallway, and coughed loudly as the pressure was let off his chest. His wrists were chained, Brent shoving him gently. “We’re almost there pretty boy. I figured you didn’t need to be in that hallucination the entire time. I didn’t realize it was that bad.”

Tyler couldn’t speak. His voice was lost somewhere in the rushing beat of his blood pounding in his ears.

“Right here,” Brent murmured, steering Tyler into another room. He sat him down in a chair facing another glass chamber. Tyler gasped for air, throwing his head back against the chair as Brent leaned against the wall. “I need you to focus Tyler. Can you do that for me?”

Tyler nodded. He was done fighting.

“Everything we’re going to do is worth it, and the proof is right here in this room. Watch.” he knocked on the glass, and Tyler’s head swam when the person trapped in the cell stood up.

It couldn’t be.

“You have a visitor,” Brent grinned, crossing his arms. “See Tyler, I told you your boyfriend was the best thing that ever happened to us.”

No. Josh was dead.

Yet here he stood, growling, skin glowing, eyes dark and narrowed, hair wild and bright like the fire in Tyler’s chest. He swallowed loudly, trying to avoid glancing at the black scars that ran up his arms.

“He’s one of us Tyler. He’s more than alive, he’s pure  _ energy. _ Josh is incredible. I can understand why you were pulled towards him.”

“H-How could...” Tyler’s hands shook in his lap and he felt weaker by the second. This had to be a bad dream. There was no way this was real.

“He doesn’t know who you are. I have a team floating somewhere around here, I’m sure you’ll meet them soon, but I can’t take all the credit for our creation. I haven’t exactly been sure what he can do, he has one of those chips in him, but I figured what better time to find out than now with you here in the room?” Brent whistled, drawing Josh’s attention away from Tyler. He opened the cell and beckoned for Josh to come to him. “This is gonna hurt a little bit,” Tyler heard him mumble before he flicked open a pocket knife and dug under the skin of Josh’s neck. Josh growled, pulled away sharply, causing the blade to slide across his collarbone. Brent closed the door quickly, grinning as he presented the tiny black chip in the palm of his hand. Josh on the other hand, continued to growl and thrash. Blood covered his neck and ran down his chest from the thin line across his collarbone; his eyes glowed with hunger and all Tyler could think of was how scary he looked, like some kind of wild animal. This wasn’t Josh. Josh was sweet and soft and gentle and  _ beautiful, _ not scary.

He slammed his hands on the glass as Brent took a seat next to Tyler, his smile wide like he was about to watch some movie premiere. It made Tyler sick to his stomach. Josh was destroyed and Brent was  _ okay _ with that.

“Let him figure what’s going on. It’ll take a few minutes.”

Tyler wasn’t even sure he could handle a few seconds of this. This right here, watching the creature Josh had become, was worse than any torture he had endured while being stuck in this prison. Every single cut, scar, scratch, bruise, was  _ nothing _ compared to this.

Even Blurry was sickened by it, which was a lot saying.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before Josh’s back hit the wall of his cell, and he started screaming, screams filled with so much pain it made Tyler furious. “What the fuck did you do to him?”

“Just watch,” Brent continued, still smiling.

“What the FUCK DID YOU DO TO HIM?” He was pissed now, fueled by Blurry’s rage, and made a move for him, trying to hit him, kick him, anything to put him in as much pain as Josh was in now.

But he froze when Josh’s hands lit up in flames.

Brent slammed Tyler’s head against the glass, his breathing heavy as he pushed his hand hard against it to prevent Tyler from getting away. 

Tyler managed to catch Josh’s eye; they danced with the orange of the flames that soaked his hands and traveled up his arms. He was a mess now, tears starting to fall down his cheeks. This was all his fault; if he hadn’t hurt Josh in the first place, he wouldn’t have been in pain, wouldn’t have been transformed into the creature he was now.

Brent laughed loudly. “I can’t believe it. I can’t fucking BELIEVE IT! Are you seeing this Tyler?”

Tyler continued to sob.

_ I’m so sorry Tyler. _

“Look what we did. Know right now that we were successful, and there’s going to be more. So many more.” he sighed happily, tearing Tyler away from the glass to toss him to the floor. Tyler curled up in a ball and tried to stop his body wracking sobs. “Don’t be upset pretty boy, this is something wonderful, not sad.”

Tyler didn’t believe him.

He would  _ never _ believe him, because all of this, this cause and effect, was Tyler’s fault hands down. And if Josh managed to snap out of whatever daze he was in right now, this brainwashed state Brent had him in, things would never go back to the way the were.

The minute Tyler had let Josh into his life was the day things were destroyed.


	8. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With a heavy heart he throws his hands in the air
> 
> To complain to a god that doesn’t exist that life is never fair

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Josh is always quite the optimistic.

Brent left Tyler chained to a chair with a perfect view of his demise.

Because yes, seeing Josh there, glowing and growling and snarling, Tyler knew that would kill him.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat with his head down and his body slouched, but he could feel his limbs growing numb, could hear Blurry telling him to sit up, but Tyler refused. He couldn’t look up and see the monster he had let Josh become.

But then, the door opened, and loud footsteps echoed throughout the quiet room. It was the same  _ clickclackclickclack  _ of Lady White’s heels and for a split second Tyler felt fear.

“So you’re the infamous Tyler Joseph everyone is speaking about.” Her hair wasn’t blonde but dark brown, and he relaxed in his chair, finally looking up to meet her eyes. They were huge, that was the first thing he realized. Her hair was long, and faded into lighter brown.

She also wasn’t human.

Tyler didn’t speak, just continued to watch her.

“I’m sure you’re a little more than confused. I’m a little confused myself.” she continued to circle around him, pulling a knife out of her pocket, making sure he could see her twirling it in her hands. “All I’ve heard since you came here, since we started this project, was how dangerous you were. You can kill with one touch, you’re ruthless, you don’t care what anyone thinks or does. But look at you. You seem lost. Afraid.” Tyler pressed hard against the chair as she slid the blade softly across his collarbone, stopping the point just above the blinking red chip under his skin. “Maybe I should cut this out of you, see just how dangerous you really can be.”

“That’s a horrible idea,” he finally spoke, eyeing her with a threatening look. Tyler took a deep breath slowly, trying to avoid the prick of the knife in his skin. “You don’t want to meet the other guy.”

_ Oh come on Tyler, how bad can this little girl really be? Certainly not worse than Dr. Bitch or the Lex Luthor wannabe. _

“Oooh, he’s the one who causes all the problems, right?” she pulled the knife away and let it clatter on the counter. “You’re just along for the ride.”

“Not exactly.”

A nod. “I’m not going to hurt you Tyler. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. I want to help you.”

Tyler narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

“Because, it’s not right for all you guys to be in here locked away for the government to do whatever with. We're the minority, the odd ones out against all the humans, and we should stick together. Okay? Brent should  _ not  _ be harvesting DNA from our own species,  _ god  _ he's watching how beat up they're getting and-” she stopped, pausing for a gulp of air. “I had loved Brent you know. He was my saviour when I was starving and dying. But I can't keep living among liars and thieves.”

Tyler looked at this broken girl with her wide, tear stained eyes and sighed. “So... What can we do?”

“I have a friend who feels the same way I do. His name is Lou Vecchio. He uhm... Well, Brent offered a place to stay in exchange for work, and that's how him and I came to be here. We used to work out of our home, dragging in humans and talents when we could, but then Brent heard about your rampage in the city and went straight to the government with information so he could get a proper lab. So I'm thinking we get Vecchio to help with Josh. He is partially to blame for what happened to him, but it wasn't all his fault, he was just following orders, and he can reverse some effects. We have to be careful around Brent or he will do the same things to us.” She shuddered. “Brent is away for the next few days on a, er, business trip.”

“Where's he going?”  _ Probably to kill some more people.  _

“Uhm...” She paused, obviously thinking whether or not it was good to give away this information. “Back to your home. He wants to collect some personal items, see the effect they have on Josh. The government thinks we’re making them super soldiers you know, and if Josh is howling and screaming like a rabid animal then they aren’t going to be very happy.”

Tyler’s eyes widened. “They aren’t coming-”

“Oh heavens no, you’re safe for now. All of them won’t bother you or Josh or any of the others until Brent comes back. They had a pretty strict deal. Now listen, we need to get a plan going because we don’t have much time.” Chrissy glanced over at Josh behind her, who was still pressed up against the glass, watching with those dead eyes of his. She sighed, turning back around to help Tyler out of his shackles. “I’m going to take you to my room, okay? There’s a bed and stuff in there and the only person who can get in is me, so you’ll be safe. Then I’m going to talk to Vecchio about what we can do to help Josh.” she looked again by accident, shuddering. “I’ll say more when we get to my room, alright?”

Tyler nodded, rubbing his sore wrists after she helped him stand up.

Chrissy nudged him forward, cracking the door and looking around before pulling it open. “We have to be very careful. Not many of Brent’s crew is wandering around this area because it’s restricted, but living corridors are much more inhabited. You walking around with a bright orange jumpsuit isn’t exactly incognito. Neither is the blinking red chip in your neck.”

“Alright, so what do you suggest we do?”

She pawed at her face, letting out a whoosh of air as the door slammed shut. Chrissy leaned against it, thinking, before her face lit up. “I have an idea.”

Tyler watched her pull out her cell phone and dial a number. “Who are you calling?”

“Shh.” the dial tone rang until a voice picked up, and suddenly it all made sense. “Hiya Mr. Wilson. Oh yes, I’m doing wonderful, how are you? Oooh, that’s great! Well, I just wanted to call and say I’m  _ soo _ sorry for the way I’ve been behaving about the plan. I think it’s a great idea.” she frowned. “Oh Mr. Wilson, you know I love you. I was a mess, but now I understand. Yes. I know. I was a very bad girl. Yes, anything. I just wanted... no, Joseph, I wanted to have some  _ fun _ of my own is all. I can? Oh thank you. Love you.” the line clicked off and Chrissy scowled. “He drives me crazy.”

“Did... did it work?”

“He’s letting everyone know right now that I have authorization over you. That does mean I’ll have to put you back in cuffs, but once we get to my room we can get you comfortable, okay?”

Tyler nodded.  _ What do you think?  _ He asked Blurry.

_ I think we might actually have a chance. _

\---

Chrissy’s room was average, but to Tyler the thought of an actual bed with an actual mattress was the greatest thing in the whole world. She didn’t even care when he flopped down on her bed and stared at the ceiling.

“There’s a bathroom back there if you wanna shower or whatever. I’m sure you probably do.”

“Thank you,” Tyler murmured, letting his eyelids flutter shut. God, he was so exhausted.

“I’m going to speak with Vecchio right now, alright? And see if I can get you some normal clothes. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

Tyler nodded, forcing a smile as she left the room and let the door shut behind her. He laid silently for a few minutes, letting the little bit of energy he had left drip off of him. 

_ They’ll fix Josh you know. I know they can do it. _

His eyes shot open.

_ I... I want Josh to be okay. _

“You do?” Tyler pushed himself up with one bony wrist and leaned against the wall. “Why?”

_ Because. He’s important to me, just like he’s important to you. I realize that now. _

With narrowed eyes he dragged himself off the bed and turned on the bathroom light, standing still as the room buzzed with electricity. He stared at the shower with a little bit of awe before he started stripping. “What does that mean, huh? That you’re going to be nice now all of a sudden?”

_ I messed up Tyler, I realize that. Don’t you remember what Josh said? About us working together? I know I scoffed and laughed and said some kinky comment. But having this chip, not having control and realizing I might not be able to ever have control, it makes you think. And I think we should work together, for Josh’s benefit, and for the benefit of our family.  _

The room filled with steam as Tyler turned the faucet as hot as it would go. “Seriously?”

_ Seriously. _

“You know I can’t live my life without you.”

_ And I can’t live mine without you. _

Tyler couldn’t help but grin as he reached for the shampoo bottle and squirted half the thing on his head.

Later, when Chrissy came back, Tyler was back to laying on her bed, his hands constantly touching his wet hair. He couldn’t remember the last time they had even let him shower. He had been living in his own filth for a few months.

“I talked to Vecchio,” she said, leaning against the adjacent wall and crossing her arms across her chest. “He’s willing to help. But it’s going to take a couple of days, just because Josh was reanimated like... well, that. And it’s already hard to rewire someone’s brain when they’ve been living a certain way and have made habits. It’s not going to be easy and it’s not going to be pretty for anyone, but especially Josh.”

Tyler pushed himself up in worry. “Can I sit in there with him?”

Chrissy shook her head. “It’s really not a good idea Tyler. Vecchio needs to concentrate. He needs to make sure Josh can remember who he is and has some basic knowledge of what happened and how to use his new powers. I told Vecchio to keep out the part about... you know.”

“No,” Tyler said firmly, sliding his legs around to stand up, “He needs to know what happened. He needs to know it was my fault and that I was the one to...” He trailed off, unable to say the words.

_ I’m sorry, _ Blurry whispered. Tyler knew he meant it.

“Are you sure?” She looked worried.

“One hundred percent.”

“Alright then.” Chrissy nodded her head, once again reaching for the door handle. “I’ll let him know.” And the door slammed shut, leaving Tyler alone in silence.

\---

It took three days of hard work for Vecchio to “fix” Josh, and Tyler spent every minute worrying. He’d pace Chrissy’s room back and forth, biting his lip, twisting his hands together, being in a constant state of  _ worry _ because he wasn’t sure what Josh was going to say or act like. Tyler had messed Josh up and he knew he deserved to pay for that.

Blurry worried too, which upped the anxiety in Tyler’s bones a good thousand percent. Chrissy told him countless times that what Brent had done to Josh was his fault, not Tyler’s, but if Tyler hadn’t killed him in the first place Josh would still be at home safe and sound and none of this would have ever happened.

_ It wasn’t even your fault in the first place,  _ he would say.

“Yes it was,” Tyler would reply. And the conversation ended there.

Brent was scheduled to return from his “business trip” on Saturday, which meant things were going to be close, and that was another thing Tyler was freaking out about. Brent would be pissed if Tyler and Josh were missing when he arrived and Tyler didn’t want to think about what would happen to Chrissy and Vecchio, or even his family. Surely Brent would take his anger out on them. They didn’t have enough time.

On the third day around ten o’clock at night, Chrissy burst into her bedroom with her hair pulled up messily and a large scratch fresh across her cheek. Tyler’s eyes widened. “What happened?”

“Josh uh, nothing. I’m fine, promise.” she forced a smile. “He’s sleeping right now. We hooked him up to an IV and some monitors just to make sure his vitals are fine. I promise he’s okay for now.” 

Tyler began making his way for the door, his heart thumping in his chest. “Does that mean I can go see him now?”

Chrissy stepped in front of the door handle to block Tyler from leaving. “Listen Tyler. There’s some things you need to know before you go in there. He doesn’t look well. Josh is sick and in a state of shock. Vecchio, he basically restarted Josh’s entire body. The man had been dead for a while.”

“He looked fine,” Tyler tried to argue, but his voice fumbled on the border line of “okay” and “about to lose it.”

“He was barbaric. You can’t expect to reanimate someone from the dead and expect them to be normal. Plus, Brent had Vecchio wipe his memories and knowledge. Vecchio basically had to rewire his brain as well as his body.”

“So what does that mean?”

“It means go slow with him, okay? Of course I’ll let you visit him, but we all need to give him space.”

“Yes, I can do that, just please let me visit him now.” Tyler was getting closer and closer to the “losing it” category. He pushed closer to the door, sighing with relief when Chrissy stepped to the side.

“You need to change first Tyler. People are going to recognize you out there, especially when you’re parading around in prison orange. There’s clothes in the bottom of my closet. Sorry I couldn’t get those to you sooner.”

“Sure, sure,” Tyler nodded, spinning around to pull open the closet door. He tore open the plastic bag and stripped out of his jumpsuit, exchanging his orange for a black hoodie and jeans. He laced his boots, popped the hood of his hoodie and pushed his way past Chrissy.

“Fix the hood, I can see the chip,” she murmured, grabbing his arm as he pulled the door open, into the hallway with the rush of people making their way to their rooms. Really, there weren’t that many people, but it felt like Tyler was some sort of fugitive stepping into the real world. And he figured he would be rather soon with his face plastered all over the news.

So Tyler let Chrissy lead him down the hallway and back into the restricted area, his heart beating quickly, loudly, Blurry quiet as they waited to see how broken Josh truly was, to see how long it would take for them to fix things. The hallways never seemed to end, that same pristine white that punished Tyler wherever he went. He felt sick to his stomach.

And then, “He’s in there.”

Tyler swallowed nervously and stared at the silver door. “Are you coming in?”

“Vecchio is in there with him, but he’ll leave when you come in. We’ll give you some time. If you need us, just say so. We’ll be outside, okay?”

He stared at Chrissy’s worried features for a split second before pulling her into a hug. She tensed at first, but relaxed shortly after, squeezing him back. “Thank you.”

“Go make things right,” she mumbled, pressing a kiss to his cheek. Before Tyler could go in, the door opened to the face of a tired, dark haired man. Vecchio.

The two men stared at each other for a good thirty seconds, studying, pulling apart. “You must be Tyler.”

“Yeah,” he replied, pulling off his hood so Vecchio could better see him.

“Josh is awake, but he’s tired. I’m tired.” he scoffed. “Don’t stress him out.”

“I won’t,” Tyler promised, even more eager to go in. He glanced between Chrissy and Vecchio one last time before taking a long breath through his nose.

_ It’s going to be okay Tyler. _

His fingers slowly wrapped around the door handle and Tyler counted slowly in his head.  _ It’s alright, it’s okay, everything's fine. One, two, three, four. _ And with a creak, he pushed in.

The first thing he noticed was the blinding white of the room. This wasn’t the same lab Josh had been in last time when Brent had forced Tyler to stare at the monster he had had a part in making, but a room with beeping monitors and a hundred kinds of medicines and a broken red haired man lying in a bed. He looked pale, body littered in bruises, nasty dark ones that turned his body black and blue and purple and maroon. His veins bulged under his skin in pain, face in a grimace, hands grasping the blanket on the bed like a lifeline as he struggled to breathe and function. Plus… those dark scars that Tyler had left, had branded him with, were still there, awful against his skin.

Tyler wanted to leave the room. This was all his fault, he couldn’t handle much more of this.

Chrissy had told him things were rough, but Tyler didn’t know it was going to be  _ this _ bad. Josh looked like he had gotten into a car crash and fell off a cliff.

He didn’t know what to say. Not even his counterpart knew what to say.

A cough. Josh’s back arched as he yelled out in pain and his eyes shot open. He made it very clear by the wide eyes that Tyler wasn’t getting out of this. “Tyler,” he said, and it came out in a whisper.

“H-Hey Jish.” Tyler moved closer, slowly, steadily, before dropping into a seat by the bed. He kept his hands to himself, not knowing if he could touch Josh without causing him more harm.

“Hurts,” he murmured. “Everything hurts.”

“I know.”

“Everything’s fuzzy. I’m lost.”

“You had an accident,” Tyler started slowly, knowing this would probably remind Josh what exactly happened.

“I was with you, back home,” he coughed, eyes squeezing shut with pain once more, “we were practicing, and you, you, I can’t…What’s that red thing under your neck?”

“The government broke into our home Josh. They took all of us and put these chips in us that made us unable to use our powers.”

“The government has you? Even me?”

“Even you.”

“Do I have a chip?”

“Not anymore.” he let his head lean back against the white wall.

“Oh shit,” Josh frowned, trying to sit up in bed, his eyes still wide. “They  _ did _ things to me, didn’t they? Is that why everything hurts? Is that why I feel so warm? No.  _ Fuck. _ Tyler, I  _ died. _ How did I…” the minute Josh looked over at him with watery eyes Tyler burst into tears of his own.

“I didn’t mean to,” he sobbed, unable to look the love of his life in the eyes. “I lost control, we had been doing so well, and I couldn’t stop him, and you, I killed you Josh, never in a million years would I ever hurt you and I did and I’m so sorry.”

Josh remained silent for a little while, letting Tyler cry himself dry, watching him with sad eyes. Tyler was sure Josh would make him leave, would hate him and never want to see him ever again.

“Tyler,” he finally said, causing Tyler to look over at him. It was hard, but Tyler deserved this, deserved every cruel word Josh was about to throw his way. “I love you.”

Tyler blinked. That was the opposite of cruel. “What?”

“Just because you fail once doesn't mean you give up. Failure leads to success. Do you think people like Einstein or Washington gave up after failing once? Definitely not.”

“This is totally different. You were dead. Not only you, but I killed so many people they put me in federal prison locked away from all the other inmates. I’m labeled dangerous and ruthless and insane.”

“And now the government is using you and our family as science experiments. It wasn’t you Tyler. It was him.”

“I  _ am _ him.”

“He doesn’t seem to be bothering you now.”

“Because of this stupid chip in my neck, it stops him from taking over.” Tyler sighed. “I love you too Josh, but things… I can’t be with anyone from now on. I’m too dangerous and things aren’t going to go well. You need to live a life away from me.”

“I’m not doing that Tyler. I said I would help you and I’m not leaving you to deal with all this crap on your own. Sure we had some slipups and things aren’t ideal, but I have no clue how you expect me to live without you in my life. I love you, and I’m not leaving you. Now stop crying, keep your head held high, and tell me why I know I can combust into flames.”

With a sniff and a nod, Tyler stood up and left to go get Vecchio and Chrissy.

They had some explaining to do.


	9. Defeat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With regret and sorrow he tries to forget
> 
> He wishes and wishes the two had never met

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry updates are so slow. I have a harder time with this story than I do the other one I'm working on.

They started from the beginning. Tyler explained that Blurry had taken over and wrecked rampage throughout the city, sucking the energy out of every living thing they could come across, Josh included. Tyler cried again, and Chrissy put her arm around him.

Then came the story of Tyler’s time in prison and Brent’s many failed attempts to change a human into a talent. It was very difficult telling Josh that part of the story; Chrissy and Vecchio tried their best, but they stumbled over words, even completely stopping at some points. Josh listened quietly to every word, not speaking once, just staring with sad eyes and pain in every part of his body.

His bones, his muscles, his very soul - all transformed into something completely new, and it broke Tyler’s heart.

And when it came Tyler’s turn to share his part of the story, he went just as slow at the others before him, detailing the guilt and grief he went through, the treatment of the guards and that stupid lady with her  _ clickclack _ heels and white labcoat, and the hallucinations of bright light where Josh would scream at him.

As Tyler wiped tears away from his eyes with the sleeve of a hoodie that wasn’t his, he rolled his sight across Josh’s beaten and bruised skin and reminded himself once more that it was all his fault.

Chrissy and Vecchio left after that to give Tyler some time to speak with the man he had fallen in love with, and stolen life from.

They were both quiet for the first five minutes. Tyler knew this because he counted every single second.

He kept waiting for Josh to say something. Josh kept waiting for him to say something. And Tyler finally looked up and squinted at Josh’s dark, dark eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Tyler said. He wasn’t sure how many times he had apologized for something he knew could never be forgiven. He meant it though, he meant it for all the pain and suffering Josh had endured, and for the fact that Josh had wandered into the wrong place at the wrong time and was denied the right to leave. Tyler was selfish. He hadn’t wanted Josh to leave because he didn’t want to be alone, and look where that left them.

“It’s okay,” Josh replied. He didn’t seem as cheery as he had before finding out what exactly had happened, just… sad. “I’m still… taking it all in I guess. Kinda hard to comprehend that I died.” he snorted. “It’s just weird, all of this. Everyone talks about death like it’s a terrible, scary thing, and that you’re going to have your life flash before your eyes and see some bright light or maybe Jesus or something. But I don’t remember much. Just darkness. And it was cold.”

Tyler nodded his head and sighed. He wish there was more he could say, but it became harder and harder the longer he sat here.

“Did you… remember at all?” the question itself was vague, but Tyler knew perfectly well what he was hinting at.

“No. I didn’t even realize until they told me.” the tears started up again and every single bone in his body ached with grief.

“Tyler, I’m not mad at you. Please understand that. You didn’t have control over your mind or your actions, and even though you blame yourself for that, even if you believe you made a mistake, I forgive you, and I forgive Blurry. Because I told you from the start that I was going to help you, and this doesn’t change anything. I love you more than anything in the whole-”

“How are we supposed to recover from something like this?” he interrupted with hysteria. “How am I supposed to wake up every morning and see you and forget about what happened? Every morning, I would wake up, and I would suffer. These people, they weren’t nice to me. They called me names, they dragged me through hallways, they cut my hair and scratched my skin and gave me all sorts of bruises and every day I would grow thinner and thinner because I couldn’t eat. All I could think about were those photos of you at the crime scene. All that blood, and all those bruises, and I’m so  _ so _ sorry Josh.” his light tears turned into full fledged sobbing and Tyler was beginning to think he’d never run out of tears.

“Hey, look at me.” Josh remained calm, not raising his voice as Tyler slowly glanced over at him and immediately looked away. “Tyler, I’m trying so hard to be brave, but I can’t be brave for the both of us. I woke up in a foreign place with not a lot of recollection of what happened. I just learned I died, was dead for a solid two weeks, and was brought back to life through a secret government funded project. I learned I’m not human anymore. I learned that I’m made of pure energy, that I can melt solid steel and combust into flames and that for months I’ve been some wild, rabid animal with no memory of who I was in the first place. I know you’re having a tough time, but I am too. So please, stop crying and try to be brave.”

Tyler sniffed and wiped his nose once more, stealing another glance at Josh’s battered body. “Okay.” was all he said, because he couldn’t think of anything else to add. Josh attempted a smile.

“Okay. Now listen. You mentioned that the government knew about you guys.”

“Yeah. They ransacked our home and took all our people. Everyone is locked away in a cell in this special area of the prison. There’s this lady, I don’t know her name but she’s so  _ evil, _ she’s trying to get information on all of them and she’s broken all kinds of my bones,” Tyler gestured to the bandages on his fingers that really did no good, “and I don’t think they’re going to stop until they know everything about our species.” the word  _ our _ had slipped from his tongue so casually, that when Josh’s face flinched with pain he stumbled to fix his mistake. “I’m sorry, my species-”

“What could I even call myself?” Josh chuckled, tried to play it cool, but he wasn’t fooling anyone. He grimaced as he tried to shift to a more comfortable position on the bed. “Is this how you all feel after you develop your talent? Cause this sucks.”

Tyler wanted to cry again, he really did, but he remembered what Josh said about helping him be brave and continued. “The government refers to us as ‘metahumans.’ They want to learn everything about us so they can control us, brainwash us,  _ use _ us, so we can do what they need us to do. The U.S. would win all sorts of wars with superheroes on their side.” he snorted. “We’re far from superheroes.”

“Is that what the chip is for? So they can examine and torture without injuring themselves?”

“I suppose so. I feel awful with this blinking piece of crap in my neck. And Blurry hasn’t been in control in so long that he’s starting to act all weird. He talks to himself all the time and my head feels like it’s about to explode.”

“Dig the chip out. I can see it. Shouldn’t be too hard.” Josh offered. Tyler shook his head.

“No. But that’s not important. Listen, the government thinks Brent is making them a new breed of metahuman. Between us and the new super soldiers, they’d be unstoppable, right? But Brent is two timing them. He has this plan to assimilate the human race. The more people like you he makes, the more control he has over his own army.” Tyler shuddered. “That’s beyond awful. I don’t want to think about what would happen if he got away with that.”

“So what do we do?”

“Chrissy and Vecchio have a plan to get you and everyone else out of here. Problem is Brent, who is supposed to be coming home soon.”

“What about you?” Josh’s voice was soft, like he already knew the answer, and perhaps he did know. After all, his kindness and way with empathy was one of the reasons Tyler had fallen in love with him.

“Josh,” Tyler sighed. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t watch Josh’s face with all its pain and sorrow and the fake smiles he kept flashing because he was trying to be brave for the both of them. It was false courage on both of their ends. “I have to stay here in prison. I have to do my time.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Josh started arguing for the millionth time.

“Even if it wasn’t my fault, it was my body he was using. My hands, my voice, my access to everything. I have to pay for what I did to all those people. I have to deal with knowing my talent is my anathema.”

“You couldn’t help that,” he continued, raising his voice. Tyler sighed again.

“It doesn’t matter. I have to finish up my sentence, even if the government finds out it was all my fault everyone escaped. I’ll pay. I can’t exactly die, so don’t worry about that.”

“Are you saying what happened to me doesn’t matter Tyler? Cause I can’t help this either. You talk about all the evil you’ve done in the world and don’t take the time to think about all the good you’ve done. The evil isn’t you. It’s never been you, even if you talk of these creatures of vile. I  _ need _ you Tyler. I can’t see a happy life without you. I need you to help me, to show me, to teach me-”

“I can’t do those things if I can’t even do them for myself.” Tyler’s breathing hitched and he couldn’t find it in himself to stop the tears from falling once again. He didn’t want to break Josh, he really didn’t. But sometimes you had to let the people you love go. “I’m going to get you out of here, and I’m going to make sure that Pete and Patrick and Dallon and everyone else take good, good care of you. They’ll teach you everything you need to know. And you can have my room if you want. I know it’s a little dark and creepy but if you throw a coat of paint on the wall I’m sure things will be brighter.”

“Stop it!” Josh finally broke down into tears of his own, his voice growing louder with each passing second. “Stop talking about yourself like you mean nothing! You mean fucking EVERYTHING TO ME TYLER! Why can’t you understand that?”

“Because I KILLED YOU!” Tyler screamed right back. He hated this. He hated everything. “I can’t forget about that. I can’t live the rest of my life knowing that. My parents locked me up for that very reason Josh, and if I hadn’t escaped I wouldn’t have harmed anyone. All of those people, those families with fucking  _ children _ that I killed, would still be alive if I hadn’t been so selfish. You would have been fine if I would have let you leave. But I didn’t, because I’m selfish, and I murdered you and now you’re like this. I can’t be around to restrict your life anymore.”

Vecchio and Chrissy burst into the room before Josh could make his reply, obviously distraught with the yelling the two were doing at one another.

“Tyler,” Chrissy said softly as she pulled Tyler off to the side, “we should probably go. Josh needs his rest.”

He nodded slowly, not really listening or paying attention, just occupying space as Vecchio messed with Josh’s wires and monitors and medicines. Josh stared at him, tears silently sliding down his cheeks. He never had known the feeling of nothingness, only pity and regret and grief and sorrow.

Tyler felt heavy, like he was chained to the bottom of a lake with no possible way up for air. He didn’t breathe, only continued to stare. Chrissy tugged on his arm.

“Ty, come on. Let’s get you back to my room. I’ll put on a show for you to watch and make you some dinner.”

“Josh, stay still,” muttered Vecchio at the same time. Josh didn’t listen.

He suddenly stumbled off the bed, tangling himself in wires and ripping out needles. Tyler didn’t move. Vecchio growled, throwing his hands in the air. Chrissy squeaked and stepped back.

Tyler continued to stand there as Josh used all his strength to kiss him hard on the lips. Josh was so warm, Tyler was reminded of that light that haunted him in his dreams, in his reality, and screamed. It was wrong, all of it was  _ wrong. _

Chrissy pulled his failing arms behind his back and Vecchio caught Josh as he tripped backwards. The ordeal had only lasted a few seconds, but to everyone in the room, it felt like hours.

As Chrissy dragged a hysterical Tyler out of the room, he caught sight of the heartbreak that flashed across Josh’s face.

No matter what Josh had said, things could never be the same.


	10. Viperous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You can never escape the person you are," his demons do say
> 
> "You're a monster," they taunt, leaving his mind to rot and decay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings for graphic violence and death of a character :/

A day passed.

Chrissy held Tyler for the longest time as he sobbed and sobbed and sobbed for hours on end.

She hugged him tightly, petted his hair and told him it was gonna be okay over and over again, but it was nothing but words to him. It was never going to be okay again. Honestly, he sort of wished he hadn’t gone in to see Josh.

After some time, Chrissy left and returned with a bowl of soup and a water bottle. Tyler sniffed and hid his tear stained face as she set the items down on the end table. “Please eat.”

“Not hungry,” he mumbled.

Chrissy sighed audibly as she dropped back on the bed. “Please.”

Tyler stared at her for a brief moment with sad eyes before giving in and reaching for the spoon. Two bites later and he let it clatter into the bowl.

“I know things were... hard. Back there.”

Tyler didn’t answer. He felt sick to his stomach, and it didn’t help that Blurry was twisting inside of him.

“He’s gonna get better Tyler, it’ll just take a few days is all.”

“You don’t UNDERSTAND!” he snapped, screaming, causing Chrissy to cower in fear. “He’ll never be physically the same, and that’s all _my_ fault.”

“It’s not your fault,” she spoke softly, arms folded, still watching him with uneasy eyes. “It’s Brent. He’s the one that got ahold of his body, he’s the one that turned him-”

“Don’t you see? If I hadn’t harmed him, he wouldn’t be like, like _that._ I can’t even stand to look at him. It makes me sick to my stomach.”

“You can’t keep blaming yourself for this Tyler. Josh doesn’t blame you. In fact, he needs you. You’re the only familiar person he has here. If you push him away, he’s gonna have no one.”

Blurry was angry. Angry because she was claiming to know information she had no reason to be telling them.

Tyler once again resorted to silence, but he could feel Blurry’s anger blossoming into his own. She was wrong. Josh didn’t need him. He’d be just fine on his own. Chrissy didn’t seem to realize Tyler was upset and continued talking, making it only plenty worse.

“We’ll send you guys some place safe, okay? Then we can start working on a plan to get the rest of your family out safely.”

He whipped his head up and snarled, full on _snarled,_ nostrils flared and all, to scream at her some more about the pain and remorse that would _never_ leave his body, but that chance never came.

Frantic knocking brought the two to their senses as Chrissy carefully stepped around Tyler to open her door. Vecchio burst in with Josh in tow.

“Brent’s back.”

An unsettling tone quickly filled the room as Chrissy replied. “No. He wasn't supposed to come back until Monday, how is he here?”

“I have no clue, but he's back, and we need to go before he realizes Josh is no longer providing service. I know a place we can go. It'll be a lot of walking.”

“Where are we?” Josh asked, and just the sound of his syrupy sweet voice got Tyler to look up at him from the carpet. Vecchio had gotten him a change of clothes, so his bruises were covered, but his eyes remained dark, reminders of regret.

“Isolated. It'll take a lot of work to get back to the main road. Dammit, we don't have time.” Vecchio groaned in frustration and reached for the door handle. “Chrissy, we’re going with them.”

“What about everyone else?”

“We’ll worry about that later, okay?” With one more glance between the four of them, Vecchio led the way down the hallway and out of the residential area, to more white hallways with flickering lights and hushed whispers. No one was around and the atmosphere made the hair on the back of their necks stand up.

When they came to a glass door, Vecchio inputted a code into a tiny keypad that beeped and clicked open. He looked at everyone closely one last time. “There’s another door that leads to an elevator. Chrissy, you know that.” she nodded her head, tears brimming her eyes. “After that, you know where to go. We just need to be-”

A thundering _boom_ shook the hallways as Vecchio slumped backwards. His knees buckled, elbows slammed into the tiled floor, his whole body a twisted mess of discomfort, and in the middle of his forehead was a tiny black hole with a whole lot of gushing blood pouring down his face.

Chrissy screamed, dropped to her knees, and pulled her coworker’s corpse into her arms. Vecchio hadn’t just been her coworker, but her friend, her comrade, the person she trusted in the hardest of times.

Josh pushed himself into a back corner with wide, frozen eyes. Tyler stared.

They couldn’t believe it.

“You really thought you guys could just _leave?"_  Brent let out a loud cackle, catching them off guard as he slid his gun back into his pocket. “Big mistake.”

“YOU KILLED HIM!” Chrissy bellowed, her voice so raw and emotional that it was almost impossible to understand her. “YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!”

“I oughta kill you too bitch,” Brent growled, taking a few steps closer. “You were trying to help my creation escape. Not only that, but Vecchio _changed_ him. What am I supposed to tell the government now?”

“You don’t tell them anything,” Tyler shot back, the realization finally coming to him that Brent had murdered Vecchio in cold blood. “Because you’ll be dead.”

With a click of his tongue and a mocking giggle, Brent replied calmly, like he hadn’t just shot a man in the head. “Tyler, Tyler, Tyler. You of all people. I wouldn’t expect you to side with them.”

 _He’s got a point._ Blurry spoke for the first time in ages, his whisper ringing in Tyler’s ears.

“Don’t listen to him,” Josh begged, reaching out for Tyler’s shoulder, but he only pushed his love away and stepped into the middle of the hallway. _Listen to him._

“Why?” Tyler asked cautiously.

“You’ve seen what the human race can do Tyler. You’ve seen what _fear_ does to them. They continue to dig and dig and dig until they are no longer afraid, even if that means killing. We’re outnumbered by the billions, and our species will never catch up to them. But we can try Tyler, we can try our damndest. We’re going to _control_ them, to watch them scream and thrash in pain because that’s what they _deserve._ I know you’ve been trying to be good and move on from the person you once were. After all, you let a human into your life. You fell in love with him. But, that’s not who you are. People don’t change. Don’t fight the real you.”

Tyler didn’t move. His thoughts jumbled in disarray as he tried to comprehend all the information at once. _He’s right,_ Blurry whispered, _we’re bad Tyler. We’ve always been the bad guy. Our whole lives we’ve been bad guys. Our parents locked us away, our siblings casted us aside, people looked at us and ran the other way screaming. There isn’t any point in being good._

“Tyler, that’s not you who are,” Josh fought back with his own soft words, taking a step out of the corner with his hands cautiously outstretched. “You’re kind Tyler, and you’re brave, and you’re loving. You take care of your people, of your family, of me. Don’t listen to him.”

Brent rolled his eyes, and with a wave of his hand, Josh’s eyes glossed over, his face expressionless, as his psyche evaporated into his worst nightmare. One glance at Chrissy was all it took to know she was in a hallucination of her own as well, frozen and draped over Vecchio’s body.

“Now we can talk,” he grinned, face bright with malice, with evil, and all Tyler could do was watch. His feet felt nailed to the floor, his stomach twisted into knots and Blurryface continued to chant in his head. “Listen to me Tyler. You and I, we’re _monsters._ We always have been, and we always will. Stop fighting who you are.”

_Stop fighting. Stop fighting. Stop fighting._

Eyes closed. A hand, Brent’s hand, wrapped around his neck, cut off his air supply, sharp pain flooded his body as a knife dug under his skin, as the chip was pulled out of his neck, and his screams, his screaming echoing throughout the hallway, made him collapse to his knees. Tyler could feel Blurry pushing, stretching with all this freedom he now had after _so long,_ and for a brief moment his eyes flashed red.

“That’s right pretty boy. Let it all out.”

“You gotta let them go,” he grunted, squeezing his fists next to him and curling in further on his weak body. “Let Chrissy and Josh leave.”

“Of course,” Brent replied as he crouched down and swept away the hair on Tyler’s forehead with one finger. “I don’t need them anymore when I have you.”

“And my family. Let them go too. You can use my DNA for whatever.”

Brent’s eyes lit up in excitement. “I had never ever thought of that. A whole army of talents you like you. We might have a chance at wiping out the human race.”

“No!” Josh’s screaming caused heads to turn and Brent’s tilted in confusion.

“How did you get out?”

The redhead was to Tyler’s side in seconds, and Tyler was too weak to push him away. “Tyler, please don’t do this. Whatever Brent wants you to do, it’s not worth it. Come with us.”

“I’m not coming with you.” he could hear Josh’s heart shatter into even more pieces.

“Tyler-”

“He said he’s not coming with you,” growled Brent, and his gun cocked right in Josh’s ear. With a nervous gulp, Josh took a step back towards Chrissy who had faded back into reality. Tyler pulled himself up off the floor.

 _We’re a monster,_ Blurry reminded him, words swallowing the fragile man whole. His eyes blinked red.

“Get out of here before I shoot you both. You aren’t getting another chance.”

“Get fucked,” Chrissy spat. Josh pushed on the door, tears finally starting to flood his face after ages of being strong.

“You’d like that you whore. Get out.”

Chrissy took one more glimpse at Vecchio’s body before shoving past Josh in fury. Josh himself, took one more pause. He opened his mouth to beg one last time, to tell Tyler he wasn’t the monster he thought he was, but his jaw was stuck.

And so Josh left without saying a word.

Brent grinned, turning to face the red eyed monster. “Let’s get started, shall we?”


	11. Devils and Demons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With regret and remorse he remembers his vice
> 
> He played with the devil, rolled far too many dice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Think really hard about what happened in the original Light a Match and flip everything around. Bam.

I’ve got great news,” the man who had become accustomed to the torture and pain of his own kind grinned at the lady in white with a wide, tooth and all smile as he slid into the seat across from her. She refused to give him her name, claiming it went against confidentiality, and so Brent was forced to come up with his own nicknames. 

She peered at him from the top of her thick black frames and pushed a lock of fake blonde hair out of her way. “What’s that?”

“I left, as you know, to pick up some items for our new, er,  _ soldier. _ Unfortunately when I returned two of my employees had killed him.”

Her eyes widened and fists clenched in anger. “He  _ died? _ How could he just  _ die? _ The man was pure energy!”

Brent clucked his tongue and shook his head in mock remorse. “I wish I knew. Fortunately, I had a little chat with our favourite killer.”

Lady White cocked an eyebrow and tapped her manicured nails on the tabletop. “You spoke with Mr. Joseph? And he actually talked?”

“Even better. He joined our side.”

“He’s willing to work for us? To be a soldier?”

“You know who that man was, right? The man we changed?”

A pause. “Oh my god. That was him, wasn’t it? The guy he loved?”

“Bingo. Tyler gave himself in once he realized what had happened of his forbidden love. Let me tell you now Snow White, Mr. Joseph has a ton of self worth problems, and on top of that, he’s full of self pity and anger. It makes for a great soldier.” Brent’s grin darkened. “And with his DNA, we can create an entire army of killers.”

“The United States would win every war,” she replied in a breath whisper, the realization hitting her like a smack in the face. “This, shit. I can’t even begin to tell you what I think of this.”

“I’m so glad we could work together.” He leaned over, offering her a hand, to which she shook harshly.

“Me too Mr. Wilson, me too.”

\---

Chrissy and Josh walked in silence for a good mile and a half. 

Vecchio hadn’t been lying when he said they were isolated. Without a car, they were forced to trudge through thick mud and untrimmed grass, and with Josh’s current state, he wasn’t having an easy time.

He noticed she was still crying, and Josh wished he could make things better. In the short time he had known Vecchio he had enjoyed his company. If it hadn’t been for him, Josh would have still be some kind of monster foaming at the mouth.

“I’m so sorry,” he said at one point, and Chrissy only shook her head and used a fist to wipe away tears.

When they came to the main road, Josh felt sick to his stomach. It didn’t help that he had so much new information swimming around in his head that he  _ knew _ he hadn’t known before and that his entire body ached like no tomorrow.

Plus he couldn’t stop thinking about Tyler, who truly believed everything was his fault and it wasn’t. It  _ just _ wasn’t.

Sure, he had lost control, but Josh had specifically told him he wasn’t going to leave his side at any cost and unfortunately death was the consequence, but that wasn’t Tyler’s fault. It was Blurry’s, and no matter how many times Tyler claimed the two were the same person Josh would never believe it. Besides, Brent had been the one to pick his specific corpse out and play operation with it. Tyler couldn’t have known that was going to happen.

He really thought they were going to get somewhere and Tyler would get over the fear ruling his life. 

It seemed that would never happen now, because Tyler made it quite clear he wanted absolutely nothing to do with a freak like Josh.

Chrissy frowned when she noticed tears running down his face, tears that Josh himself hadn’t been paying attention too. “Josh? What’s wrong?”

“Everything hurts,” he replied, because it was true. She sighed and pulled him into a soft hug. Chrissy thought it was his body that hurt, and that part was true; his bones still ached and his muscles stretched, but overall, it was his heart that shattered over a boy who no longer wanted to play with him.

\---

“How’s the you-know-what coming along?” Brent beamed at her from his stance against the wall and she retaliated with a glare.

“It’s coming. We’ve been performing some tests on the other talents. One of them went under for almost ten minutes.”

“We need it for him if we want this to work. There’s no guarantee he’ll stay put.”

“If we manage to get rid of his good side, we can work with evil. He wants to kill, so we give him the opportunity.”

“He seems like he’s given up for the most part.”

She smiled. “Perfect. I’ll talk to him.”

\---

Tyler had never felt defeat quite like this.

He knew it well, that wasn’t the problem, but watching Josh go, seeing his face, knowing that he was going to be stuck here for the rest of his life… that hurt. And he could feel the darkness bubbling in his chest, sticking like hot tar to his heart and ribs and lungs.  _ You’re a monster Tyler. You want to kill. _

“I want to kill,” he said out loud to a sad empty room. Blurry twitched at the corners of Tyler’s mouth.

The door opened, and Tyler shifted in his chains and shackles to see his visitor. Of course it was  _ her. _

Heels  _ clickclackedclickclacked  _ across the tiled floor and she bent down to look him in the eyes. “Good evening Mr. Joseph. It’s great to speak to you again.”

“Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you. Please don’t hurt me.” he hated how pathetic he sounded.  _ You’re a monster. Nobody has ever liked you. Josh was pretending. _

“I’m not going to hurt you. I’m thrilled you’ve agreed to participate in our project. We, I, want to make the world a better place, and I’m glad you want to help.”

“I want to kill,” his voice echoed, like a scratched record cackling under the needle. “I want to kill everything I see.”

“Mr. Joseph,” she tried to interrupt, but Tyler wasn’t done.

“You humans are all the same,” it was a sneer this time, a voice possessed by someone that looked like him. “Greedy and always wanting more. People don’t look at you with pity, people don’t run away from you with fear branding their eyelids. People don’t call you a  _ monster. _ That’s what I am. I want to  _ hurt  _ people. I want to watch their blood drip from their eyes and their noses and every cut I slice on their body. I want to hear them scream and thrash in pain. I want  _ revenge,  _ and I don’t care what I have to do to get it.”

Her face flashed with fear for only a split second before returning to its resting stoic. She didn’t understand. This was  _ him, _ not the demon that shared his body. After a nervous swallow, the woman with her white lab coat and thick frames spoke. “Where’s Blurry?”

Tyler rolled his shoulders and his eyes clicked red with a single blink, causing her to step back out of caution. “Can I help you?”

“How did you do that?”

“Do what?” he smiled.

“You convinced him to do what you’ve always wanted to do. How did you manage to do that?”

“We’re monsters,” Blurry said, and that was the end of that. She asked him plenty more questions, most involving if they were going to cooperate, but he refused to answer a single one. The smile never left his face, and she left the room with shivers running down her spine.


	12. Regret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler Joseph forgot to run
> 
> Now his demons have Josh Dun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A forewarning: this story is not going to have a happy ending and there is a reason for that. It's supposed to represent everything bad and wrong and I don't think it would be right for it to end happy. It's a tragedy.

“It’s working,” she whispered into Brent’s ear. He smiled.

“Let’s pay him a visit then, shall we?” with a flutter of his lab coat, Brent led the way down restricted hallways full of such painful silence and into a room with their new test subject. Tyler, who at the moment was not Tyler, looked up at them in curiosity.

“How can I help you?” Blurry asked, and in response the blonde showed him the needle inputted with the device that would force him to obey.

“Stay still,” she commanded, fixing her gloves to avoid skin contact. Blurry nodded.

“If you say so.”

The needle slid into his neck smoothly, and it didn’t take long before every trace of red fizzled from his pupils. Tyler stared forward, his eyes now glossy and blank.

“Who are you?” Brent asked, his voice just quiet enough to bounce off the walls of the small room. Tyler did not reply.

“He can hear you,” Lady White responded. “I don’t think he knows who he is.”

“How long does the serum work?”

“48 hours. That’s as far as we’ve gotten it. I have my team working with the others, but for now... for now we use him.”

“Do you have anything for him yet?”

She nodded before crouching down to eye level with their new soldier. “Tyler, can you say your name for me?”

“Tyler Joseph,” he responded in a voice so monotone and unlike him that the two couldn’t help but share a nervous look.

“Good boy. Listen to me, the more missions you complete, the more time you get taken off your sentence. That doesn’t mean you’re going to be free though. We have many more tests that need to get taken care of.”

“Okay.”

With a smile, she pushed back up and unlocked his handcuffs. “You can help my team out with DNA.”

“Wait, from his fa-” the blonde cut him off with a punch to the face, and Brent stumbled back against the wall as blood began falling in tiny droplets from his nose.

“From the enemy,” she finished, shaking out her hand. “The people we are taking you to see are bad Tyler. They have done bad, bad things, and we want to stop them from doing more bad things. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Wonderful. Let’s go then. After that, I can show you where you will be staying and we can get you some proper attire for an assassin.” a smile. “Goodbye Mr. Wilson.”

“Well wait,” he reached out for her shoulder, smearing the blood on his fingers across the pristine of his coat. She pulled away from him in disgust. “He was mine in the first place-”

“So nice doing business with you Mr. Wilson, but I’m going to have to end it here.” She pulled a small handgun out of a holster around her waist, and ten seconds later with the remains of a loud _bang_ Brent was dead, his face masking the permanent fear of his last dying breath.

“Forward Tyler. We have places to be.”

“Yes ma’am.”

\---

“I’m going back to get him,” Josh told Chrissy. She had led him to an abandoned house her and Vecchio had been staying in while Brent sweet talked the government.

She sighed. “Josh-”

“He’s confused is all,” he interrupted with a glare.

“Tyler isn’t an idiot Josh, you and I both know that. He’s scared, and we all know what people do when they’re scared.”

“They make rash decisions and that is all this is. I wanna help him, I need to see him again-”

“There’s no way for us to get back in. Give it up.”

“No!” he stood up so quickly his head spun. “I’m not doing that. I love him Chrissy, I love him more than anything in the entire world. You got in there with Brent, I know for a fact you know how to get back in there and I’m going with or without you. I haven’t ever met a person like Tyler. He’s so kind and selfless and he’s _scared out of his mind._ He needs help.”

“I can’t go back there. Vecchio was my only friend Josh, he was the closest thing I had to _family_ in that fucking place, and now-” she was crying again. “I’m alone.”

“You can come back with us, we have a place with so many talents living there for security and-”

“The government took your people. You aren’t getting them back. They’re going to use all of you guys until you rot and die. The government is corrupt Josh. They always have been and always will be. If you wanna go back, be my guest. I’ll give you everything you need, but I’m not coming with you. I’m getting the hell out of here and going to some place actually safe. So you have fun on your suicide mission.”

“Awesome. I’m going tonight.”

“Please think about it Josh. At least for the night.”

“No. I’m going now. There isn’t any time for me to lose.”

Chrissy pulled Josh into a tight hug suddenly, and Josh hugged her right back despite his screaming muscles. “Please be careful. They are dangerous people. They don’t care. We all know the actions and behaviours of humans and there isn’t anything we can do to stop them. You know this, right?”

Josh nodded. “I’ll be careful. I’m made of fire now, remember?”

“I’m so sorry for all the harm I caused you. I’m sorry for helping Brent the most.” she shook her head and wiped away some slipping tears.

“It’s okay. I forgive you. You’re a good person Chrissy. Go start the new life you deserve.” Chrissy gave him the codes needed to get back into the building. They shared one last hug before she pressed a sad kiss to his cheek.

“Be careful.”

“I will.” And with that, the two went their separate ways.

\---

Tyler stood above the lifeless body of Brendon Urie as everyone around him sobbed and screaming. Crimson was the only thing that could be seen in the thick darkness.

“Good job Tyler,” her shrill voice rang over the intercom of the small section dedicated to talents. They had brought more in; all of Brent’s people, all his helpers, either executed or jailed. “We have everything we need from him and he was driving me nuts. His body will be taken care of in the morning.”

“That was his FRIEND YOU MONSTER!” Spencer’s loud, choked fill screams rang from the next cell. “You can’t do this to us, you can’t make us your fucking slaves!”

“Mr. Joseph, if you could give Mr. Smith a warning I would appreciate it. Only a warning though.” Eyes faded back to brown and Spencer was knocked out cold with the ear splitting crack of Tyler’s fist against the side of his head. More screaming followed; none of the other prisoners, the other _enemies,_ could see the man that had once been their friend, but they could hear him, hear his screams and the cruel, cruel words of their torturous captor.

“Good boy. You may return to me.” he shuffled slowly, pausing to lock the door on his way out.

“Snap out of it Tyler,” that was Pete, “This isn’t the real you, please Tyler-”

“I oughta kill you too,” he sneered, and suddenly his veins were on fire, fueled by kerosene instead of blood. Tyler’s head swarmed and Blurry was pleading, screaming, _don’t let that happen again, I swear to god Tyler, I can’t take it._

He blinked. “Pete?”

“Tyler? Oh fuck Tyler, I can’t believe, they have you under some spell, I can’t-” Pete’s rough voice fizzled into screaming and the blinking red chip in his neck turned into a rapid sputtering.

A crowbar came down on the back of Tyler’s head and his vision blurred. A thin trail of blood trickled down his neck as he collapsed to the ground, Blurry still screaming in his head. Tyler had never heard such pain come from his evil counterpart. He wasn’t supposed to feel this much pain. Tyler was supposed to feel it all, but he only felt numb.

The lady in blonde with her coat and clipboard and heels smiled from above him with a needle in her hand. “Sorry my love. Just one more time.”  _A lie._

“‘Kay,” Tyler mumbled, and unable to take any more of the numbness he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

\---

Josh stumbled to the door with a shaky breath. He inputted the code he had mumbled a billion times to himself in and sighed with relief when it clicked with a tiny beep. His body ached and all Josh wanted to do was curl into a ball.

But he couldn’t do that. He had to save Tyler and get him to safety. Then he would kiss every goddamn wound on Tyler’s body and sing to him until his voice was raw because the fact that he’d have Tyler in his arms was all that mattered.

The elevator was cold and make him uneasy. He’d have to be careful, that was for sure. Anyone could have been lurking in the hallways, and they could alert Brent who would definitely kill him, or tell the government who would want to use him like they had always planned.

Chrissy had given him the code to her room so he could camp out if he needed to, which Josh probably would do. He needed time to think about where Tyler could have gone in the time they had gotten out and to their temporary living space. Did they have him locked up and caged somewhere? Why had he given himself up?

 _He’s selfless,_ Josh reminded himself, _he gave himself up so Chrissy and I could get out without any harm._

He stepped over the dried spot of blood that had never been cleaned up from where Vecchio’s body lay and shivered. That could have happened to Tyler. Oh god, what if that had happened to Tyler?

“You’re Josh Dun,” a voice called out, one Josh didn’t even need to look up to know its owner. His heart stopped when he noticed Tyler standing in the hallway. His eyes were bright red, a tall tale sign that he wasn’t himself, and he tilted his head strangely, like someone who didn’t have control of his own body. And perhaps he didn’t; Blurry was in charge after all.

“You scared me,” Josh spoke softly. Tyler had been so quiet that he hadn’t heard any lock clicks or doors shutting or even footsteps. “Tyler, I’m here to take you home. I know you stayed because you wanted me to get out okay, but now I’m back and I’m not leaving without you. I’m here for you, okay? I love you.”

“You’re Josh Dun,” Tyler repeated, his voice more chilling this time. Josh furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

“Tyler?”

“You’re Josh Dun.”

“Yeah, I’m Josh Dun,” he nodded his head very slowly. That was all Tyler needed before Josh was slammed against the wall and his hand was wrapped tightly around Josh’s throat.

He clawed at Tyler’s hand with all his strength. Even now, knowing he possessed inhuman strength, Josh couldn’t find it in himself to get Tyler to let off.

“I’m required to destroy all and any Josh Duns,” his voice was robotic, monotone, and Josh struggled to find air.

“No, no you’re not, Blurry, please get Tyler-”

“There is no Blurryface. There is no Tyler Joseph. There is only me.”

“I love you,” it was Josh’s final and last sentence, because he could no longer get air, could no longer see, and could feel bruises pulsing into his neck.

And then Tyler dropped him.

Josh slammed into the floor on his hands and knees and gulped air like it was water and he had been stranded in the Sahara desert. Tyler, with his glowing red eyes and eerie glare, crossed his arms. The _clickclackclickclack_ of ruby heels approached the man gasping on the ground and grinned.

“Down sweetheart, the job is done.”

Tyler nodded, and his eyes flickered back to dark before he walked away. It still wasn’t him though. Josh wasn’t sure where the real Tyler was being held prisoner.

“Mr. Wilson lied to me,” she muttered to herself, examining a broken pinkie nail. “That son of a bitch. You aren’t dead.”

“You guys brought me back to life and ruined EVERYTHING!” The snapping of a rubber band, quick and easy, was what happened to Josh’s emotions. They tumbled over one another like an avalanche he had been holding in far too long.

“You should be thanking us for resurrection. That doesn’t happen to most people.” A smile. “I assume you came back for your lover?”

“What did you do to him?” the fear in his voice was all she needed.

“He’s a killer Mr. Dun. All we did was remind him.” she clicked her tongue and slid a small black case out of her lab coat pocket. It opened with a click and a hiss, presenting four tiny needles. “Please hold still and remain calm. It hurts more if your muscles contract.”

“You stay the fuck away from me,” he warned her, trying to move, trying to remember that he could hurt her if he tried, set her tiny body ablaze, but he didn’t. Josh stayed put.

And the needle sank into his neck.

Josh didn’t scream. He let his body relax and accepted defeat. Chrissy had warned him. Josh should have known he would never get far.

He should have known he lost Tyler the second he left him alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Lights are bright and so was he  
> Too bad evil's heinous crimes consume me  
> In day, in night, he shined like stars  
> And now my tears run like cars
> 
> Tyler, Tyler, killed the sun  
> Tyler Joseph killed Josh Dun.


End file.
